No backcountry hut stay is complete without reading the Backcountry. Photo (c) Masha Oliver

In 2025 we face several challenges – environmental, political and technical – that may mean changes are needed for Backcountry to remain most relevant, accessible and appreciated by its readers.

We want to make Backcountry the best it can be for you. We’d love to hear about how you engage with the magazine, the sections you most enjoy and want to see more of (or less of), or how we could do better.

We’ve created a simple, short five-minute survey to gather your thoughts. The survey closes on 15 April 2025.

New to Backcountry? You can read more about it on our web page or subscribe to the D2U service for our members, which delivers 4 copies of the magazine directly to your door for only $25.

Thank you for helping us create a magazine you'll enjoy!

We'd like to say a huge thank you to the many member clubs that responded to our recent call for club volunteer data. Your data was crucial in enabling us to apply to DOC for a continued discount on their Annual Hut Pass for FMC members. During February, discussions on this went extremely well with DOC and we await their formal response to our application. Please watch this space!

Lake Diana - last year's entry by Glen Howey, Wakatipu Tramping Club. Photo (c) Glen Howey. 

FMC would like to encourage clubs and individual supporters who haven't entered before, or haven't entered for a few years, to give it a go in 2025 and enter our photo competition.

Club photo competitions are a great social event, building camaraderie and club spirit, as Sally Stockdale from Wakatipu TC says in her Wilderlife article. You don't have to be a professional photographer to enter. For tips on how to make it easier or ideas to get started, check out our page about "how to run a photo competition". Photo competitions can be run as a club night, or entirely online, and clubs can enter as few as one or two photos. Your entries help FMC's valuable advocacy work.

All the information on how to enter is available on our website.

Entries close for individual supporters on 1 September 2025, and for FMC affiliated clubs on 15 September 2025. If you have any questions, or if you would like help with your clubs' competition or entries, please contact photocomp@fmc.org.nz.

Public conservation land belongs to all New Zealanders and should be accessible to all. Photo (c) David Caruthers. 

Submissions are a key part of FMC’s work, allowing us to engage with the government, DOC, and policymakers on conservation land management, access, and related pressures. We carefully study each issue, drafting well-informed submissions that reflect diverse perspectives. This work by the FMC volunteer Executive Board requires significant time and expertise

In February, we submitted:

• on DOC's proposal to charge for access to some public conservation land
• on DOC's proposal to modernise the management of conservation land
• on DOC's consultation about the future concession for the Whakapapa Ski Area
• a request for information by MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) about partnering to plant trees on Crown-owned land

Some other key aspects of our advocacy work this month included:

• DOC stewardship land reclassification work. We met with DOC as part of a new 6-weekly kōrero on the progress of stewardship land reclassification. DOC is aiming for key decisions to be made on the West Coast reclassification in the coming months and we aim to keep you informed and monitor how this unfolds.
• DOC Land Safety Forum. Two of our Executive, President Megan Dimozantos and Executive member Jan Finlayson, attended the two-day DOC Land Safety Forum in New Plymouth. 

Glencoe station sits between two parcels of conservation land, marked in green. Source: Herenga ā Nuku Outdoor Access Map. 

Tenure review is now complete for Glencoe Station in East Otago. Ten kilometres west of Herbert and 25 kilometres south of Oamaru, it’s on the western boundary of Herbert Forest.

Public access is now established through the station from Mount Misery Road, with two car parking areas, route markings and related signage. One car parking area provides parking for people heading into the 340-hectare Glencoe Scenic Reserve (this is part of the Glencoe hunting block, which has feral sheep, pigs, and red deer). The other offers parking in particular for those heading up Mt Miserable. 

If you are ever in doubt about public access to an area you're heading to, Herenga ā Nuku, the Outdoor Access Commission, offers excellent online maps, outlining the public access throughout the country. 

Students from Otamatea High School on a winter Kepler trip supported by FMC's Youth Award Grant.

Grants are available to help candidates of the Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award and Scouts NZ's Venturer Award with the cost of their backcountry journeys and expeditions. The amount available per student has now increased to $250. Check out some of the stories of past recipients on Wilderlife.

These grants are available through the generous support of the Maerewhenua Trust.

Applications for the current round of FMC Youth Award Grants close on 15 March 2025. Visit our website to learn more and to apply.

We hugely appreciated the clubs and individual supporters who came along to our February Club kōrero.

Some excellent thoughts on DOC's proposed access charges to some public conservation land were voiced, which helped us refine our submission on this. Our next Club kōrero will be in April - please keep an eye out on our facebook page and the March Newsletter for the date and topic.

Are you passionate about the outdoors? Do you want to help protect wild places and enhance outdoor recreation opportunities?

If you have time and skills to contribute—especially in policy, planning, law, governance, media, marketing or administration —we’d love to hear from you!

It's that time of the year when nominations for the FMC Executive Board are open and we're looking for new members to join our team of volunteers. You can learn more about the role and how to apply on our website. Nominations are open from 1 March 2025 until 9 April 2025.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Executive Officer Operations, Sophie Tucker (eo@fmc.org.nz), or chat with a current FMC Executive member – their contact details are available on our website.

The FMC Mountain and Forest Trust is farewelling its valued Secretary and inviting expressions of interest in the vacant position.

A charitable trust founded in 1985, the Trust provides generous financial support to FMC as well as mountain recreation and conservation research and publications.

The Trust's Secretary role is voluntary, but costs are covered. Experience in meeting procedures and general administration is needed. A love of the hills is preferred, but not essential. Position responsibilities include attending two Trust meetings per year, booking Trust meeting venues and catering, preparing meetings' agendas and papers, preparing conflicts register, minutes taking, checking Trust's emails, responding to grant requests and working with the Trust treasurer.

Send a brief resume to FMC Executive Officer Administration Rebecca Gray at: admin@fmc.org.nz by 17 March or contact Trust Chair Jan Finlayson on 021 502297 for more information.

Along with all other incorporated societies, FMC is required to create a Constitution that complies with the Incorporated Societies Act 2022, as part of our required re-registration.

Last year, we sent out an email to member clubs outlining the key changes between our current Rules and our proposed new Constitution. The consultations with clubs have now finished and we will request formal approval from our member clubs later this year.

For more information, including our current Rules and proposed new Constitution, please visit our webpage. If you have any queries, please email Sophie at eo@fmc.org.nz

 Photo (c) Davide Conti

The FMC team is made up of a skilled and passionate volunteer Executive Board supported by a small staff team.

With growing economic, political and environmental pressures on the land we recreate on, we are increasingly busy here at FMC, working hard to protect access to public land and making sure it is not developed unwisely or seen purely as a profit-generating asset.

If you believe in the work that we do and would like to support us, please join us or make a donation to keep those hills as they are. Your financial support helps us overcome increasing operational costs so we can keep doing what we do.

“We must closely guard the welfare of our National Parks and Reserves. These should not be regarded as the property of our minister or the government. They belong to the people of today and tomorrow. We must fight for their protection if necessary.” Fred Vosseler – Inaugural FMC President (1932)

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