A huge thanks to Tourism Industry Aotearoa, who last week expressed their support for FMC's "Kiwishare" concept in a press release. Kiwishare aims to maintain and sustain the traditional rights of New Zealanders to access popular huts, track and other sites on public conservation land that is under high visitor pressure.

It's a subtle, not overt initiative - we don't want more than we would have had already, just a bit of a helping hand given our busy lives to make sure that, if we want a bit more time to book a Great Walk hut in the busy season, we still can.

The Department of Conservation is planning to add one or two new tracks to the "Great Walks" network, to be selected from the following shortlist:

• Te Paki Coastal Walk, Northland
• Aotea Track, Great Barrier Island
• Timber Trail, Waikato
• Tarawera Trail, Bay of Plenty
• Queen Charlotte Track, Marlborough
• Waiau-Toa/Molesworth, Canterbury
• Hump Ridge Track, Fiordland

You can read the complete press release here.

Do you have a strong opinion about any of these proposed "Great Walks"? If you do, e-mail our Executive Officer at eo@fmc.org.nz.

In May we found out that tracks had been cut and biodiversity bivvies installed inside the boundaries of the Adams Wilderness Area. FMC had not been consulted on this.

The news sparked some controversy within the outdoor community, but also provoqued thinking and questioning of our values...

FMC now has a complete Executive again after the recent co-option of Norman Judd (Auckland) and of Stuart Hutson (Wellington).

Click here to see an up-to-date list of the FMC Executive.

Tickets are already on sale for the 16th NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival, held in Wanaka, Queenstown and Cromwell. The event runs from 29 June to 7 July.

If you can't make it to Otago, the best films of the festival will be shown around the country on the National Tour during July and August.

If your town isn't on the list, why not volunteer to organise a screening as a fundraiser for your club? Its not too hard to do, and can raise quite a bit of money! Read a Wilderlife article by Megan Sety of WTMC, explaining how it worked for her in Wellington. If you're interested, get in touch with the festival, e-mail info@mountainfilm.nz.

FMC is proud to sponsor the event, which allows us to provide a DVD of the best Kiwi films to schools for FREE. Its easy for schools to participate, just check out how it works on our website, and get them to email our development officer, dan.clearwater@fmc.org.nz.

As well as sponsoring the festival, we have several of the FMC team presenting in Wanaka.

• Shaun Barnett, our Backcountry editor will be running an adventure writing school, and an evening talk on backcountry and hut culture.
  
• Exec member Neil Silverwood will be presenting on caving, and discussing his award winning book on the same topic.
  
• New Exec member Crystal Brindle will be hosting the environmental film session, and talking about her biodiversity work for DOC in Fiordland.

With an exciting start to the snow season in many areas around NZ, we're in full swing of the outdoor community campaign support to Ski Touring. Check out the articles about Ski Touring on Wilderlife, as well as #atouraweek on FMC facebook, where we share tour ideas from around the country.

If your club is organising Ski Touring trips, instruction or related courses, we really want to hear from you. A few clubs have sent us information about club tours for the Wilderlife whats on guide, but we're looking for lots more!

We're also keen to hear stories about your tours, thoughts on how we can support the activity, and photos from the snow. Drop us a line to get involved!

Here are two great additions two all mountain lovers' libraries:

Backcountry ski-touring in New Zealand

Edited by Shane Orchard

This guidebook builds on the 2003 NZAC title Backcountry Skiing in New Zealand by James Broadbent. It includes over 200 new route descriptions and all updated information to help you explore our amazing backcountry in winter. A new format with a quick beta panel plus colour photographs throughout is designed to assist navigation and add extra inspiration!

The guidebook will be launched at the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival on 2 July, and will go on sale on 5 July 2018. More information can be found here.

To the mountains - a collection of New Zealand alpine writing

Edited by Laurence Fearnley and Paul Hersey

From the Darrans of Fiordland to Denali in Alaska, New Zealand climbers, both experienced and recreational, have captured their alpine experience in letters, journals, articles, memoirs, poems and novels. Drawing on 150 years of published and unpublished material, Laurence Fearnley and Paul Hersey, two top contemporary authors, have compiled a wide-ranging, fascinating and moving glimpse into New Zealand’s mountaineering culture and the people who write about it.

Available for sale now. More information here.

Entries are already starting to come in to this years competition. We trust that your club competitions are scheduled on the calendar already, but if they aren't, you've still got time! Have a read of this Wilderlife Outdoor Community resource on running a photo competition, for hints and tips on how to get one organised for your club or group.

Entries close on 1st September 2018 for Individual supporters, and 15 September 2018 for Clubs. For more information about the competition, including the rules, please visit www.fmc.org.nz/photo-competition/.

Does your club have a hut for general public use? Scheduling a reunion or event that you want to feature in the magazine? "Little ads" in Backcountry magazine are very affordable ways to get 11,000 copies of your advertisement printed!

FMC Clubs advertising activities or services which make no profit (e.g. reunions) pay nothing, but space may be restricted. All other club ads are charged at 50% of the rates. To see the rates, view our Backcountry advertising rates sheet, and get in touch to place your classified. adverts@fmc.org.nz.

Its taken a while, but we've finally published our guide to club archiving on Wilderlife. This resource, written by FMC Development Officer Dan Clearwater, with support of professional archivist and AUTC member Belinda Battley, gives in-depth guidance for clubs and groups who are serious about preserving their collective memory. It explains how vulnerable electronic records are, even those which are also stored 'in the cloud', and how to establish and refine an archiving plan.

This is part of our ongoing project to develop a comprehensive resource for all aspects of running a club or group. If you have a topic you want to see covered, or information to contribute, please get in touch.