Following FMC's investigation and complaint to the Department of Conservation, all concessionaires have agreed to cease any heli-hiking activity on Mt Titiroa.

A new condition has been added to all guiding concessions on Mt Titiroa: “The Concessionaire will only guide clients that access the area by foot. For the avoidance of doubt the Concessionaire must not use a helicopter to drop off at or pick up its clients from the Mt Titiroa environs, which includes the Garnock Burn/Snow White clearings.”

We would like to thank DOC's Southern South Island Director of Operations Aaron Fleming for taking FMC's concerns on board, and for negotiating the altered concessions with the tourism operators.

This is a reminder that the deadline for submissions on Aoraki / Mount Cook and Westland / Tai Poutini National Park Management Plans is on February 4th, 2019.

We encourage all of our members to read both parks' draft management plans and submit on any issues of interest.

Also closing on the same date is the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's consultation on a draft Tourist Strategy.

It is shaping up to be a busy 2018/19 summer for volunteer groups that have already applied for funding from the Backcountry Trust. There is usually a good few months lead time to get organised for a project to run successfully and now is the perfect time to plan ahead for spring 2019.

Successful applications for Round 10 will be notified in late March leaving plenty of time to plan for those fine weather spells of spring. For more information go to our applications page:
https://www.backcountrytrust.org.nz/apply.html

We hope you've been snapping over the holiday period, and storing away the best photos for entering in this years photo competition. For 2019, we are trailing a new category for "Long exposure" photos, as well as launching a theme and extra prize for photos from our Forgotten Lands.

All the information on the 2019 competition, including the new category and theme are available on the FMC website. You can also visit Wilderlife.nz for blog articles about clubs that began participating for the first time in 2018, plus resources for how to run a photo comp in your own club.

FMC is pleased to again be supporting the Festival, which runs in Central Otago between 28th of June to the 7th of July. The FMC Executive will be attending the event on the evening of Saturday, 29th of June. The Exec welcomes the opportunity to meet and talk with any members present. Find out more online: www.mountainfilm.nz  

We are delighted to report that we will again be supporting the FMC free schools film tour. Last year, a free DVD featuring a short selection of festival films was provided to 27 schools. The aim was for FMC to help inspire the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts and over 1500 students viewed the films.

FMC encourages clubs to consider hosting a screening of the National Film tour as a fundraiser. These events take place around the country from mid winter to early spring. They are a great social activity, which provides an opportunity to reach out into the local community as well as  raise funds. The festival team assists clubs with getting started.

If you would like any more information about the free school films, or about hosting a national film tour event, visit https://www.fmc.org.nz/ members-area/nzmff/ or email dan@mountainfilm.nz

Does your club have a lodge, gear hire service, van or anything else you'd like the wider outdoor community to use? A reunion or event you'd like to advertise to all Backcountry readers?

FMC 'Little Ads' appear at the back of each issue. Activities or services which aren't intended to make a profit (i.e. Reunions) are free, all other club ads are charged at 50% of the normal rates. The deadline for the March issue is 15 February.

Visit our website, or contact Dan Clearwater via adverts@fmc.org.nz or 021 215 7059 to place an ad.