The new visitor intentions service has been introduced by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council and developed in conjunction with the police, search and rescue, the New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Land Search and Rescue and Doc.
The system has been designed to ensure a consistent approach to co-ordinating intentions information across New Zealand and to provide more certainty for search and rescue responses.
Doc Wanaka community relations manager Annette Grieve said the hand-written Doc intention forms had been a traditional part of the planning process for trips into the high country around Wanaka and Wakatipu.
"However, the new online system is more accessible as people can fill it out from home or from any internet cafe on the road prior to their trip.
"The local Doc offices have been liaising with district police and LandSAR to phase in the new intention system this summer in a way that is relevant to our local communities."
Posters and flyers had been distributed, Doc publications and webpages had been updated and a range of people associated with outdoor users had been advised, Ms Grieve said.
The Outdoor Intentions System allowed people to nominate a "trusted contact" they could notify when they returned safely from the trip.
Failure to notify on return required the trusted contact to get in touch with the police.
Doc technical adviser Mike Davies said the web-based system shifted responsibility from the department to individual contacts.
"The change to the system is about reinforcing that the responsibility should lie with an individual visitor, not Doc, for informing a responsible person of their intention when they go into the outdoors. The new system provides options for supporting people to do this."
Doc would be referring visitors to the new intentions system this summer and would continue to provide a range of safety information and support services at its visitor centres.
Use it
The Department of Conservation's intention forms system can be accessed on the Adventure Smart website at www.adventuresmart.org.nz/Outdoors-Intentions/Default.asp
