Outram resident Mark Lawrence said he made the walk through the Outram Glen up to Lee Stream with his dog frequently.
He came across possums, rats and stoat often, but noticed he was increasingly missing the sound of birds chirping in the trees.
"Where we stand, we should be able to hear native birds but we can’t.
"There is just not enough birdlife."
Mr Lawrence, along with two other residents, Marion Read and Darryl McKenzie, decided to try their hand at changing that.
The trio floated the idea of putting kill traps throughout the bush to catch predators in the reserve, and decided to try to form a local force to get it done.
They talked to the Department of Conservation, which was excited by the prospect of the group taking on the task, Ms Read said.
However, the reserve covers an area of 194ha — a lot of land to cover for a team of three.
"On October 16 at the West Taieri Rugby Club, 7.30pm, we want people to come out to a community meeting so we can talk to people who are on board with the trapping project."
The trio have also started a Facebook page, and are hoping members of the community would come forward to help them form a trust.
"We need a couple more people so we can form a committee and get started on sourcing some funding. Then we can hopefully start drumming up support for some volunteers," Mr Lawrence said.
They hope to start getting traps on the ground early next year, but first have to start work on tracking tunnels.
"We are in the infancy of this trapping project, but we want to get the community on board as soon as possible, so we can get properly stuck in as soon as possible," he said.
No poison traps will be laid, keeping the area safe for dogs.
"We have such a good track here but we’re lacking in bird life.
"We’ve got to try [to get the birds back] — [trying] seems to be the thing to do and if it works that’s great. If not, at least we tried something," Mr Lawrence said.
