March 30th 2014 – Wellington, NZ – Trail Fund NZ today announced its support for the Community Conservation Partnership Fund, a new funding initiative announced today by the Minister of Conservation, Dr Nick Smith.
“This new funding support for volunteer groups has the potential to be a real game changer for backcountry recreation.” said Trail Fund NZ Chairperson, Ben Wilde.
“One of the major constraints on volunteer groups is lack of access to funding to pay for materials, tools and transportation and this will directly address that.”
Every weekend mountain bikers around New Zealand volunteer their time to help maintain the trail networks we all enjoy. Trail Fund NZ was established to support those efforts through partnerships with sponsors, mountain bike clubs, individual riders and land managers.
“We’ve worked closely for a number of years with the local DoC office on trail maintenance and upgrading,” said Tom Hey, President of the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club. “However access to funding to support our volunteer efforts is always a challenge and so this new funding will make a big difference to groups like ours.”
Trail Fund NZ will be working with two other allied outdoor recreation groups, Federation Mountain Clubs and the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, to prepare a substantial bid for the benefit of all those who recreating in New Zealand’s backcountry.
