Vital conservation and visitor infrastructure destroyed by a severe flood event in Fiordland earlier this year is likely to be repaired for the start of the tramping season.

The government has included a recovery package of $13.7 million for the region in its recently announced budget.

Conservation Minister, Eugenie Sage, said “it’s important to get this region back up and running as soon as possible to help sustain local jobs and businesses and enable people to get out into nature and experience a spectacular part of Aotearoa”.

Traditionally, the Great Walks season in Fiordland officially opens at Labour Weekend and Department of Conservation's (DOC) operations manager Wakatipu district, Geoff Owen, is confident the both the Milford and Routeburn Tracks will be open, end to end, for the start of the new season. 

“The Milford Track is pretty straight forward but the Routeburn is more challenging “.

Mr Owen said the February flood caused significant damage to the Milford Track in the Arthur Valley on the western side of the divide, where a bridge at Giants Gate was destroyed. Work is planned to reinstate the bridge using the recovery budget allocation of $13.7 million.

But several areas on the Routeburn track, between Lake McKenzie and the Divide on the Milford Road, were badly damaged and geological work was needed to ensure the safety of reinstating the track and bridges in that region, he said.

DOC Howden Hut on the Routeburn Track at Lake Howden was extensively damaged by a landslide during the deluge. Mr Owen said no decision had been made yet on whether to replace the hut or relocate it to a more suitable location, but the plan was to have the Routeburn Track open end to end for the start of the season. 

Both Great Walks tracks were partially reopened before the COVID -19 shutdown.

The Milford Track was relatively unscathed on the Clinton Valley side and commercial concession holders were able to take guided clients onto the track as far as the McKinnon Pass within days, while independent walkers had to wait till DOC assessed that the conditions would not compromise safety.

Mr Owen said the guided operations brought a different level of care and responsibility to their clients which meant that DOC could rely on their expertise in assessing any risk.

Any damage on the Routeburn Track between Harris Saddle and Glenorchy was also quickly repaired and reopened to walkers for a shortened version of the normally three-day walk.

Both shortened versions of the tracks are open under COVID-19 Level two.

Meanwhile, the Hollyford track remains closed indefinitely.

Access to the start of the track via the Hollyford Valley road was destroyed in the same February flood, along with Gunn’s Camp and Museum and no decisions on reinstating the Lower Hollyford facilities has been made yet.

The operators of the Hollyford Guided Walk, Ngāi Tahu, have closed all operations according to their website and did not respond to requests for comment.

Southland District Council (SDC) Strategic Manager Transport, Hartley Hare, said along with slips and other damage to the road and camp, several bridges were destroyed and about 300m of roading had completely disappeared into the river.

He said making a plan to reinstate the road was not just dependant on repairing the damage, but there was concern about the stability of the valley walls in the area and a geological assessment of the alpine regions was necessary before any decisions could be made.

“We are having discussions with key stakeholders over the future of the area, and we are looking at all possible options how it could be used in the future”. He said they were not ruling out any options, including establishing a cycleway in place of the road.

Four-wheel drive access to Gunn’s Camp was established just before the COVID-19 shutdown to allow reconnaissance of the damage and to recover what could be salvaged from the camp.

The trust in charge of Gunn’s Camp is to meet onsite in the Hollyford valley over Queen’s Birthday weekend but, according to the trust chairman, Ebel Kremer, it was looking unlikely that the camp would be reinstated at its current location.