Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage has announced plans for a 310,000ha predator-free "mainland island" in the centre of the South Island.
The area, called the Manahuna Aoraki, lies between Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, and the upper drylands of the Mackenzie Basin.
The Government is partnering with a number of different organisations to fund the $4.5 million project, which will be completed in three years.
Of that, the Department of Conservation (DOC) will be contributing a third, the NEXT Foundation will contribute $1.5m and various other groups will stump up the rest.
Sage said the project was "huge and ambitious", adding that "predator control on this scale has not been done before in Aotearoa".