The Chain Hills Restoration Project is a volunteer project dedicated to trapping pests around the area, which is between Mosgiel and Fairfield.
Project leader Dr Rebecca Guest said the project began about a year ago when she slipped flyers in her neighbours’ letterboxes asking if they would be interested in trapping the local bush.
There were about 60 landowners on board across about 650ha of the hills, and about 15 who actively checked and maintained the traps.
The focus was mainly on smaller pests, such as stoats and rats, but possums would be targeted soon as well.
The latest development was a trial run of traps that automatically dispensed mayonnaise to attract pests.
The project was funded by Dunedin City Council and the Otago Regional Council grants.
The hope was to move on to greater forest conservation in the future, including replanting native trees and monitoring birds, she said.
One of the best parts of the project was how well it brought the community together.
Neighbours had known each other before the project began, but had not interacted with each other nearly as often.
The children loved being able to take part and enjoyed keeping track of what had been caught throughout the area.
The group had already seen results for its efforts.
Stuart Cooper said he had lived in the area for six years and had never seen more bird activity.
It had been a slow process, but since the trapping started he had begun to see more birds and a greater variety, such as kingfisher, kereru, bellbirds and tui.
A lot of people did not understand how much damage pests caused to the native forest.
Conservation did not just take place outside the city, however.
Wild Dalmore Reserve is a volunteer group dedicated to restoring the Dalmore Reserve, a 6ha space on Pine Hill.
Leader Maureen Howard said the group had planted more than 800 native trees since August last year.
The Dunedin City Council began working on the area in 2008 and the group wanted to continue restoring it.
The Dalmore Reserve was a truly special green space located within the city that had not been overdeveloped with pathways and conveniences for humans, Ms Howard said.
It had real potential to become a true wild forest space, not just another park.
The council had provided the group with the trees and had assisted with the project.
Growing the community was just as important as growing the trees, she said.
The idea began last year during the August lockdown when neighbours would meet each other while taking a walk throughout the area.
Discussion of restoring the space began and the idea of an organised project came into being when Ms Howard posted on social media to see if anyone was interested, she said.
Some activities were more popular among locals than others, such as tree planting, but the group had a group of five to 10 dedicated volunteers who met each Sunday to work on the reserve.
That could include cleaning up historic rubbish the forest had grown over, fighting invasive species and replanting trees.
The space was looking better but it was still early days and she hoped one day native birds would return to the area.
