Environment Southland's new chairman or chairwoman after next month's local body elections will be the council's representative on the group hoping to make Stewart Island predator-free.
The council decided at a meeting on Wednesday to appoint a nominee to the Predator-free Rakiura Project governance group, which is just being formed.
The idea of making the 17,000ha island predator-free was first mooted in 2008 and progressed significantly last year when the Morgan Foundation - the charitable organisation set up by Wellington philanthropists Gareth and Jo Morgan - and the Department of Conservation (Doc) agreed to update earlier scoping work and gain support from island residents. Two public meetings have been held so far.
The governance group would comprise residents, business owners, landowners, councils, Doc and funders, Environment Southland biosecurity manager Richard Bowman said at the meeting.
Its first task would be to work through the details of the predator-proof fence surrounding about 5000ha of land extending from Halfmoon Bay to the Rakiura Track, and the best methods for eradicating possums, feral cats and rats.
Later, it was hoped to tackle the rest of the island.
''Making Stewart Island/Rakiura predator-free will be a world first, both for this size of project and for the fact that [the island has] a permanent community,'' Mr Bowman said.
