MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
Eugenie Sage, then minister of conservation, at the East Matakitaki Hut in Nelson Lakes National Park. (First published in September 2020) Across in the Rainbow Conservation Area, near the Upper Wairau River, both Lees Creek and Begley huts have also been refurbished. The work has been made possible by a $2 million expansion of the Backcountry Trust programme to repair and maintain remote huts as part of the Government’s $1.3 billion Jobs for Nature fund. Department of Conservation Nelson Lakes operations manager John Wotherspoon said he was “really chuffed” with the amount of work the crew had been able to get done.