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A few years ago, the Department of Conservation approached Trail Fund with an unprecedented query – would we be interested in collaborating with trampers and hunters in maintaining huts and tracks on public conservation land? It was a bit of a leap for everyone involved but also the start of something great. Trail Fund was a relatively new organization, albeit with experienced people, and mountain bikers and trampers hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye on how tracks should be used. It’s safe to say there was a little suspicion on all sides. The result of this, after many meetings and e-mails along...

Trail Fund NZ invites all members, fund recipients and interested parties to our Annual General Meeting to be held at Styx Restaurant 272 Wakefield Quay, Stepneyville, Nelson on Saturday September 23rd at 7:30pm.   The AGM will be held as part of our Conference, with the conference kicking off at 4pm with talks from trail success stories around the country, and a discussion panel on the need (or lack there of) for trail standards, and what does the phrase "trail standards" even mean.  The AGM will start at 7:30pm, after the conference finishes.  Agenda for AGM1. Apologies - please forward to...

Over the past few years one of the many things Trail Fund has done has been to partner with Federated Mountain Clubs and the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association to distribute funding for backcountry projects via the Outdoor Recreation Consortium (OCR). Through that partnership we have helped distribute funding in support of volunteers all around New Zealand who have maintained and upgraded tracks and huts on public conservation land (aka DoC land). This has been one of many projects that Trail Fund NZ has been involved with, and for the mountain-bike community it has resulted in some great outcomes including: Work on the Wharfedale Track in North...

Three trail projects, two in the Nelson region and one in Wellington City, are benefitting from Trail Fund’s latest general funding round. Looking to ensure local and visiting mountain bikers find the tracks they’re looking for, Nelson Mountain Bike Club applied for a grant for improved signage at Sharlands Forest. Building on the success of similar signage put in at Codgers MTB Park (also assisted by a Trail Fund grant), this is part of NMTBC’s broader plan to improve signage on all the trails it manages. “Sharlands is possibly one of the more confusing areas for riders to find their...

Established in 2003 when free ride and downhill were still king, Gravity Canterbury has done an incredible job of fostering and supporting an impressive network of riders in Christchurch. And while the club admits its heart still lies in downhill, that doesn’t mean that it won’t accommodate other growing networks of riders. “It’s a fairly strong club with about 350 members, and we’ve had a consistent number of members since we started,” says club member and trail builder Nick Sutcliffe. “There’s no doubt that downhill racing always has been, and still is, our main focus, but we’ve recently branched out.”...