Pike29 Memorial Track

Family members of the men then worked with government and asked for a visitor centre to be built, and a new track built to Great Walks standard be constructed that linked the Pike River Mine site on the eastern side of the Paparoa Range with Punakaiki on the West Coast.

In his role as acting[b] Conservation Minister, Nick Smith and family representatives announced on 29 January 2015 that the track would be built and that the land around the mine would be added to the existing Paparoa National Park.

The Department of Conservation had been tasked with a feasibility study and prior to that work having been completed, it was estimated that a 20 km (12 mi) track would be built.

[4] Some families regard the area as sacred and maintain that people should not cycle or walk across the mine site; they were opposed to the track construction.

It was confirmed that the main track could also be used for year-round mountain biking, which is unusual for National Parks[c] but was favoured by the family group to maximise the tourism potential for the West Coast.

[17] However, some time after the Pike River Recovery Agency was established, the contractor was removed from the Pike29 Memorial Track.