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New Zealand s thriving cycle tourism operators in limbo over legality of DOC cycle trails
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From the cave to the paddock
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TACI first announced its plans to build the technical trails in June 2019, but president Vaughn Filmer said the project was on hold while DOC reviewed its conservation management strategy for the area. In the meantime, funding had been received from Meridian s Manapōuri Power Up Fund, The Backcountry Trust, and the Kepler Challenge Mountain Run Trust; and with the designs complete, TACI was just waiting for consent. Filmer agreed that technical tracks for experienced riders would bring tourists to the region. “In places like Queenstown and Rotorua, the contribution to the economy has been in the tens of thousands,” he said. “No one would argue that it’s not worthwhile.”
Under the Southland conservation management strategy, cycling is a permissible activity only in specific conservation land areas. Te Anau Cycling Inc announced its plans last year, and a section around Henry Creek was not covered in the management strategy, published in 2016. However, a Department of Conservation proposal to complete a national partial review of all conservation management strategies might make the process easier. DOC planning permissions and land director Natasha Hayward said the review would enable the consideration of building new cycle trails and allowing cycling on public conservation land but not everywhere. It would not address cycling in national parks, which requires a different approach under National Park General Policy 2005, she said.