Mount, Mt,, Taranaki Northern Track
New Track for Mountain
A major project that will see an international standard walking track created in the northern area of the Egmont National Park has been launched.
The project is described as a conservation and community partnership that will create a new recreation opportunity in Egmont National Park and be a boost for regional tourism and the economy.
Venture Taranaki Chairman John Young said Venture Taranaki became involved in the project as a result of the vision of a number of community leaders in the region who saw tremendous potential in the development of an fantastic walk around the mountain.
Venture Taranaki approached the TSB Community Trust and negotiated a $150,000 grant that will see the track on the northern area of the National Park upgraded this summer to a higher standard,” said John Young. The project involves an extensive upgrade of an existing two-day walk through some of the most beautiful parts of the park including the Holly Hut area, Ahukawakawa Swamp, Pouakai Tarns, Maude and Henry Peaks and the Kokowai Stream.
Chairman of the TSB Community Trust Paul Butterworth said the trust viewed the project as one that benefited Taranaki people at an individual level and also regionally. Work has begun on the track, and three teams organised by Work and Income and supervised by DOC will press on with the job over summer.
The track already exists but is in a poor state. This project will see the circuit upgraded to the upper end of the back country adventurer standard. That’s a facility that’s going to attract people from all over New Zealand and around the world.
The funding will provide for wooden rafts to stabilise and harden the track surface, new stair casing and steps, two new bridges, a digger to be flown in and new directional and interpretation signs. At present the area is referred to as the Northern Circuit but DOC is inviting Taranaki schools to help come up with a name and logo that better identifies this new recreation opportunity.
For more information:
North Egmont Visitor Centre
R.D.6 Inglewood
Ph: +64 6 756 0991
Fax: +64 6 756 0991
Taranaki Teams Up
The development of a new recreation opportunity in Egmont National Park is proving to be a real Taranaki project with everyone pulling together to get the project off the ground.
Parts of a number of tracks are being upgraded to provide a two or three day tramp, passing through some of the park’s most beautiful areas.
Project manager from DOC Stratford, Paul Marshall says Work and Income in Stratford and New Plymouth have found a dozen great workers to build stabilising rafts for the tracks and they’ve already built nearly a kilometre of them.
“To build the rafts there was a lot of timber needed, about two and a half kilometres worth. Mitre 10 in New Plymouth came up with the quantities we needed at the best price. It was delivered right on time,” he said.
About 180 stabilising rafts have already been flown into the park. They weighed 14 tonnes and were flown in along with four tonnes of timber pegs and two tonnes of other timber. Further rafts are being built and it’s hoped to fly them in soon.
“That’s just for starters. There’ll be a lot more later on.”
Schools in Taranaki have been asked to come up with a name for the new tramping opportunity which was made possible through a deal brokered by Venture Taranaki and supported with a grant from the TSB Community Trust
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