Every person who walks the Heaphy Track in the Kahurangi National Park costs the New Zealand taxpayer about $62, says the Department of Conservation.
About 4000 people walk the track each year and the department spends about $320,000 a year to maintain it, DoC spokeswoman Trish Grant says.
DoC earned about
$70,000 a year from hut and camp pass fees, making the shortfall $250,000, which equated to the $62.50 for each of its annual 4000 hikers.
The department's costs include hut and track maintenance, staff time and depreciation, but not overheads.
"It costs a lot of money to run facilities in back-country areas," Ms Grant said. DoC considered the Heaphy a "great walk" and maintained it to a high standard.
It was more expensive to maintain than walks such as the Abel Tasman, which had sea access, because anything needed on the Heaphy had to go in by helicopter, she said.
The figures include three years when mountainbiking was allowed and maintenance costs were higher. Before 1995, the year mountainbikes were banned, about 6000 people used the track a year.
West Coast/Tasman MP Damien O'Connor said he was keen to see the track reopened to mountainbikers because it cost too much to maintain just for walkers.
"But clearly our objective should be to try and increase the utilisation to make New Zealanders more healthy and encourage more people in," he said.
The New Zealand Conservation Authority policy, which banned mountainbiking in national parks, would be reviewed and a draft document sent out for public consultation this year.
The New Zealand Mountainbike Association regards the Heaphy as one of the top tracks in New Zealand.
- NZPA
nzherald.co.nz/environment
