School groups fill park huts

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 342, 3 July 1990, Page 5

School groups fill park huts

Some school parties are causing headaches for Tongariro National Park staff and visitors.

While the Department of Conservation is

pleased at the increase in numbers of school

groups using the park, they are receiving complaints from people who are being crowded out of huts, especially the popular Mangatepopo and Ketetahi. The huts are designed to sleep up to 24 but some school parties of 30 or more are squeezing into them, said Whakapapa Field Centre Manager Russell Montgomery. The large groups not only take

all space but also dominate the environment, he said. Mr Montgomery said most schools are cooperating and that school advisory groups are taking the message to teachers, but. that some are either not getting it or ignoring it. He said most of the problems were with first time visitors. The problem could be easily solved by split-

ting the groups into parties of ten or twelve which would have the advantage of providing an enhanced wilderness experience for the pupils. The large groups tend to merely transplant the classroom environment, said Mr Montgomery, and that was not conducive to the close-knit type of wilderness experience that was possible in the park. He said the Department is almost at the stage of having to take stronger measures to stop the practice, which is becoming a yearround problem with school groups as well as tourists visiting the huts all year.