Such policies would be similar to those in the Aoraki-Mt Cook National Park management plan.
John Taylor, chairman of LandSar Wanaka, told yesterday's hearing there was a relatively high volume of search and rescue incidents in the park boundaries and the management plan should address them.
LandSar Wanaka wants the plan to recognise the relationships and alerting mechanisms between park management, police and LandSar, recognise the need for training exercises within the park, including wilderness areas, and specify the degree to which Doc staff and facilities, including its radio network, would be available for use in search and rescue operations.
Mr Taylor presented a copy of the visitor safety and emergency services policies from the Aoraki-Mt Cook management plan and said LandSar Wanaka would be happy to help draft a similar document for the Mt Aspiring plan.
The Aoraki-Mt Cook policies for visitor safety and emergency services referred, among other things, to the need to inform park visitors and concessionaries of potential hazards, co-operate fully with police and other emergency response organisations, and to provide Doc expertise and assistance when accidents happened.
The plan also explained it was impractical to remove risk entirely, self responsibility was important and park managers could contribute to safety through education, information and signs.
A public rescue service existed at Aoraki-Mt Cook should an accident occur.
Mr Taylor did not seek a public service for Mt Aspiring.
However, he enlarged on two other areas of concern: access to the Bonar Glacier, Bevan Col and other ice areas for training, and access to the Doc radio network.
Wanaka area Doc manager Paul Hellebrekers said there had not been radio problems in the past but he wanted to cover all the bases because of increasing tourist activity and emergency beacon activation.
