The man leading the project for Doc’s Southern South Island region, Wakatipu operations manager Geoff Owen, said finding conservation work for such workers was an idea "easily said but not easily implemented".
It had to be well-supervised, meet health and safety rules and deliver good conservation outcomes.
"We’re still figuring out the system for doing all that."
Doc has been given the task of working with other Government departments, local authorities, iwi and businesses to spend the money, allocated in last month’s Budget, for creating about 1800 roles nationally over the next few years in predator control, ecological restoration and improvements to tracks and huts.
Mr Owen said pilot projects were under way in the Wakatipu for wilding pine control, cycleway care and predator trapping.
They were test cases for working out "how to best match the worker with the type of work required".
Tourism businesses in places like Queenstown and Te Anau had skilled staff they wanted to keep in the region, so they were available when visitor activities picked up.
"A business wants to retain them, it might be able to give them 20 hours a week, so how do you help them out with the other 20 hours?"
The "complexity" of the task meant the money was likely to be spent on a mix of projects, with some aimed at generating quick, short-term jobs, and on sustainable projects with longer lead times.
