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Hi,
News release from DoC
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Whats-New/presult.asp?prID=1004=============================================
Two Tararua Forest Park Huts To Go
14 feb 2003Two eight-bed huts are being removed from the western side of the Tararua Forest Park ? the South Ohau Hut through an act of nature and Harris Creek Hut as part of a staged facility upgrade.
The South Ohau Hut, at the bottom of Yeates Track, was closed last week when a large section of the hillside beside it dropped away, leaving a five metre drop just a metre away from the hut. The area around the hut has been cordoned off and it will be demolished later this month.
?Any material that can be salvaged will be used for other projects,? Department of Conservation Kapiti area programme manager Wayne Boness said.
The Levin-Waiopehu Tramping Club has expressed an interest in a replacement hut being built in the South Ohau Valley but no suitable sites have been identified at this stage. The 18-bunk Te Matawai Hut is an hour?s walk up the hill from the site of the South Ohau Hut.
The removal of Harris Creek Hut today is part of a staged upgrade of facilities in the Mangahao Valley.
Only about two hours away from the road end and, with Barra Stream being bridged, the hut will no longer need to provide refuge for trampers trapped by the weather. Alternative accommodation is available at the more modern, 18-bed Mangahao Flats Hut about an hour and a half walk further up the Mangahao Valley.
Mr Boness said Harris Creek Hut was not seen as an ongoing part of the core hut network in the Tararua-Aorangi Hut Committee?s hut strategy, and was earmarked for removal in DOC?s conservation management strategy for Wellington.
?The Mangahao Flats Hut, built in 1992, is easily accessible in a day to a tramping party including children and is better sited for connecting to other tramping tracks?
Located on a river terrace in an open section of the Mangahao River the hut offers more pleasant surroundings.
Members of the Manawatu Tramping and Skiing Club, which has been managing the hut, are demolishing it under DOC supervision.
Meanwhile hut upgrade work in the Tararuas is progressing well with building work completed at Mangahao Flats and Waitewaewae and both Field and Waitewaewae Huts have been painted. Builders will be working on Field Hut over the next fortnight and Kime Hut is being painted and building work will be carried out there within the next few weeks. The clearance of the main range track is also well underway.
?The fine weather has meant that we are pretty much on target with this work,? Mr Boness said.
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