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Tēnā koe
We invite you to our first hui for 2026 - an online presentation by Dylan Hyman, Research Intern at Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa.
- Thursday 19 February
- 12 noon
Over the summer, Dylan undertook a nationwide review exploring how councils recognise, protect, and improve public access to nature in their planning documents. His report examines a selection of councils and analyses their treatment of outdoor access in District Plans, Long-Term Plans, Open Space Strategies, and other planning frameworks that shape how communities connect with the outdoors.
Topic: How councils plan for access to nature: Findings from a national document analysis
This presentation will:
- Outline Dylan’s research approach and key findings
- Highlight trends, gaps, and opportunities across council planning
- Discuss how planning documents can better support equitable, enduring public access
- Provide space for questions and kōrero
This hui offers valuable insights into how community groups can work with their councils to enable and improve public access.
This session will be an interactive session — we welcome people to share your local experiences and ask questions.
Please pass on this invite to those who might be interested.
PLEASE NOTE: this online trailmakers hui is separate from the face-to-face trailmakers hui that Trails Wellington is hosting the following week. Details for the Wellington face-to-face event are here.
Hei konā mai,
Bernice Prakash
Add your track to Plan My Walk
Plan My Walk is an excellent tool for finding the tracks you want to walk. It hosts over 1,800 tracks, including short walks, day walks and overnight tramps.
We can host the GIS and track description information for local community groups and trail trusts that do not have their own GIS capability. You need to provide us with a description of the track you maintain, plus contact details and a commitment to inform us of any changes in the track’s status or safety information walkers need to be aware of.
We will host all that information in our database, and Mountain Safety Council will automatically pull it through to appear on Plan My Walk.
Once we host the information, we can also share it with you as a map and track description that you can embed on your website.
To share your track with Plan My Walk, complete this survey form.
Trailmakers Map - Ngā Kaihanga Ara
This map is designed for volunteer trail groups or individuals creating and maintaining trails in their local area.
What are the benefits to your trail group of joining the map
- You can be visible to other trail groups in your area and across Aotearoa
- You can contact other groups about their experiences on projects that may be similar to yours
- Potential volunteers and donors can see groups in their region. (Our regional field advisors occasionally encourage potential volunteers to look at the map.)
- Government organisations such as councils and the Department of Conservation can more easily contact you.
- Adding your details to the map is easy!
The map provides a brief description of trailmaker groups and their work, indicates their locations, and offers guidance on how to contact them most effectively. This map is specifically for community volunteer groups that are building or maintaining trails and outdoor access.
Trailmaker network members frequently want to contact each other. This map enables people to connect with other community trailmaker groups and to see where they sit geographically within a national network.
Get support
Herenga ā Nuku regional field advisors are a great first port of call when you have trail-building questions. They have an incredible wealth of knowledge and will point you in the right direction.
Our website also has a lot of information. If you can not find a resource you want, please contact me.
