JustMTB Continue Their Trail Advocacy With Donation To Trail Fund NZ

Trail Fund NZ acknowledge that they are very lucky to have some great supporters of trails in New Zealand and JustMTB are definitely one of them. Mike and the team joined the “1% for Trails” programme in 2015 and Trail Fund NZ just got another cheque that will help fuel more volunteer-led trail work around the country. For those people who have been living under a rock, JustMTB run mountain bike tours around New Zealand, showing visitors around some of the best single track riding that the country has to offer, in fully supported tours.  As the Trail Fund NZ guys say, “Remember that when overseas mates ask about good options for seeing the MTB sights of New Zealand.”

Trail Fund NZ supports volunteer-led trail work in New Zealand’s back country, supported by outfits like JustMTB, and also by the Department of Conservation’s Community Fund, which is managed by the NZ Outdoor Recreation Consortium. They are pleased to announce that five groups from around the country will receive approximately $75,000.  “This is the second year that funding has been made available and Trail Fund NZ is thrilled to be part of a partnership that is leveraging volunteer’s passion and hard work with the funding required,” says Trail Fund NZ chairperson Ben Wilde.

“These grants are geared towards giving backcountry users greater ownership of the facilities they care passionately about and it’s great to have so many applicants keen to take advantage of the opportunity. We were pleased to fund or partly-fund the majority of the requests. “Thanks to this funding, the Great Lake Trail in Taupo continues to head west up the Waihaha and, on the other side of the lake, the Te Iringa trail – which heads into the Kaimanawas – provides great backcountry riding.”

The Department of Conservation was also pleased to see such great projects being funded. “We’re thrilled to see how well the Consortium continues to work with user groups around the country, and the effort they’ve put into funding quality proposals,” said DOC recreation manager Andy Thompson. “The aim of the fund is to maintain and enhance our backcountry facilities, rather than building lots of new tracks. It’s exciting to see New Zealanders engaging in this new mechanism and how it’s enabling people to get out there and look after the places they care so much about. It’s more than we could do on our own.”

Successful applicants include Thames Mountain Bike Club, North Canterbury Cycling Club, Bike Taupo, Hawkes Bay MTB Club and Rotorua Trails Trust. See below for a full list of recipients, projects and funding. For more information on Tail Fund NZ please go to http://trailfund.org.nz/trail-fund-nz-distributes-75000-to-trails-around-new-zealand/, and for information on JustMTB please visit the website at http://www.justmtb.co.nz.