About two tonnes of discarded wooden tracks have been removed from the Nelson Lakes National Park, as part of a joint effort by the Department of Conservation and the Defence Force to survey potential avalanche risks.
Nh90 Helicopter approaches the load ready for pick up while the team on the ground waits to hook the load onto the bottom of the helicopter. Photo: Crown Copyright © NZDF.
The Defence Force has provided expertise and heavy-lifting capability for DOC projects that have a direct impact on the safety of the thousands of people who visit the national park each year.
Information gathered during the survey - which was last conducted by DOC in 2016 - would be supplied to the Mountain Safety Council for its avalanche risk updates and advisories.
DOC senior ranger Phil Crawford said two department staff and an avalanche expert flew on an Air Force A109 helicopter to survey potential avalanche paths in the 101,000 square hectare national park.
"The NZDF has been assisting us in conducting similar surveys in other avalanche-prone areas in the country," Mr Crawford said.
Air Force NH90 helicopters lifted track markers and nine tonnes of gravel that will be used by DOC to create walking tracks in the park.
They also delivered five tonnes of firewood to four DOC huts - Blue Lake, Upper Travers, Speargrass and Bushline - which are more than 1000 metres above sea level.
Another NH90 helicopter lifted about two tonnes of waste material from a disused boardwalk in Travers Valley.
