It started at the end of 2008, and seeks to control pests and predators like goats, rats, possums and stoats on private and public land, as well as fencing streams and protecting bush remnants on private land.
The work is done by contractors and Horizons Regional Council has been putting $200,000 to $165,000 a year toward it for the last four years, environmental management manager Craig Mitchell said.
Other funding comes from DoC. Landowners provide expertise and raw materials, and some are motivated to do work themselves.
The main aim is to protect North Island brown kiwi and blue duck (whio). Organisers want kiwi numbers to increase by 10 per cent every three years.
The main way to achieve this is by drops of 1080-laced baits across two 30,000ha forest areas every three years - to kill possums, rats and stoats.
Orautoha and Kaitieke schools have been involved at the grassroots level. And Te Amo Taio, a Maori work collective, has grown up along with the project, expanding from a one or two people to about 15 in a self-sustaining contracting group doing pest and weed control, fencing and track maintenance.
Kiwi numbers are judged through automated recorders and people listening, and they have increased steadily.
A population of 50 pairs of blue duck has been maintained.
