On the trail again

TWO of New Zealand’s most popular great walks closed by flood damage in Fiordland in February are expected to reopen in time for the summer season.

Yesterday, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced a $13.7 million Budget 2020 investment package over four years to rebuild vital conservation and visitor infrastructure on the Routeburn and Milford Tracks.

Torrential rain and slips severely damaged huts and wiped out sections of the tracks when 820mm, or onetenth of the region’s annual rainfall, fell in a threeday period from February 4 to 6.

Two huts, 79 tracks and 32 bridges were damaged or destroyed, as well as seven campsites, two car parks, four boundary fences and 500 predator traps.

Before the Covid19 crisis Pipopiotahi/Milford Sound attracted more than one million visitors a year and more than 14,000 people hiked the Milford Track.

Ms Sage said ‘‘it was important to get this region back up and running as soon as possible to help sustain local jobs and businesses and enable people to get out into nature and experience a spectacular part of Aotearoa’’.

The package comprised $9.52 million in capital expenditure (material and labour costs of replacing assets such as tracks, bridges, and huts) and $4.21 million of associated operating costs for the assets repaired and replaced.

Southland Mayor Gary Tong described the great walks recovery package as ‘‘fantastic news and a great help in the restart of Southland and Fiordland’’.

He said it was a big job with a lot of geotechnical work to be done, so it was good to get it under way, and he also welcomed the employment it would bring to the area.