Tuhoe activist Tame Iti wants to run training camps in Te Urewera with "no guns, no molotov cocktails, no spies" for people who want to learn teamwork, motivation and communication skills.
Mr Iti was released from prison in February after serving nine months of a 2-year jail term for firearms charges.
He plans to take participants into the hills under a training school named Te Kura a Rongo. Participants would trek around the Ruatoki hills for 24 hours, Mr Iti said.
"The whole thing is about working collectively, working with a group of people you don't really know.
"I always had [this] idea. That's always been the idea and [also] part of the training camps accused of running the terrorist camps ... but we used firearms.