Most New Zealanders won't even see the country's national bird in an enclosure, but one project wants them back in Wellington backyards.

Capital Kiwi started in 2018 with a bold goal: to return the country's national bird to the wild in Wellington.

Sixteen months later, they have a near-full deployment of the trap network covering 23,000 hectares, and over 4000 traps - the largest community trap network in NZ to eradicate mustelids - stoats, ferrets and weasels.

Capital Kiwi founder Paul Ward says they could be letting kiwi run wild in Wellington in 2021.

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* Capital Kiwi trappers 'on track'

* Capital Kiwi: Hundreds join the trapping force

* Capital kiwi: Wellington's plan to bring our national bird back

MALCOLM PULLMAN Capital Kiwi could be letting kiwi run wild in Wellington as soon as 2021.

Ward says New Zealanders face a simple choice: kiwi or stoat.

"We can't have both. Kiwi are only found here and are taonga: Aotearoa is their only home.

"A stoat is an impressive and beautiful animal, but they don't belong here. Kiwi do."

This year, they're working with iwi both in Wellington and Okarito, and the Department of Conservation to get transmitters on some kiwi - the "future parents" of the kiwi that will one day roam Wellington, Ward said.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF Capital Kiwi founder Paul Ward at the Brooklyn wind turbine.

The land traversed by Capital Kiwi will one day be home to those kiwi.

"There's a whole hinterland in Wellington which is actually a bit of a secret," Ward said.

"When we're out, looking out to Kaikōura or Kāpiti and Mana Island, it's pretty special to be out there."

It's just the start of a five-year effort to bring kiwi back to Wellington and have them roaming freely again. The ultimate goal was to have kiwi roaming Wellington, even in the inner-city suburbs.

Paul ward A map of the capital kiwi project area

To date, the Capital Kiwi team have pulled 250 stoats from DOC250 box traps - about one third of the network. Animals caught in other traps are released and quickly scavenged, so the tally is likely much higher.

"The proof of the pudding to enable kiwi is not trap catch, but our monitoring results, and we've hit all those targets to date."

During trap deployment Capital Kiwi operations lead Jamie McNaught was out on the field most days.

"It's enjoyable work ... even on a windy day.

SUPPLIED The land traversed by Capital Kiwi will one day be home to kiwi.

"We always joke about why there's a wind farm up on Terawhiti ... it's there for a reason.

"We enjoy getting out there and doing the job. We can see the progress we're making, and not too long away we expect to have kiwi in the project zone."

Their target area, which is larger than the Abel Tasman National Park, required them to seek the permission of dozens of landowners to trap on their private land.

McNaught said time was spent on negotiations with property owners along the way, and that didn't come without its challenges.

SUPPLIED The biggest asset in the project is 'the property owners support', Capital Kiwi operations lead Jamie McNaught says.

He said less than one per cent of people had not allowed them access.

"We have some people with a reasonable property area which we would like to put traps on, but that's not to say that they won't," he said.

"We respect the property owners farm operations. It's their property, and they can do what they want with it, and we will abide by it.

"The biggest asset in the project is the property owners support."

SUPPLIED The Wellington Cross Country Vehicle Club is just one of the volunteer groups helping to check traps.

The Capital Kiwi team isn't the only one checking the traps - community groups have also joined the mahi.

Over a quarter of Capital Kiwi's trap network is managed by community groups including the Makara Peak bike riders and runners, who check traps along their path.

Barry Insul of the Wellington Cross Country Vehicle Club is just one of the volunteers helping to check traps on Te Kopahou reserve on Wellington's South Coast.

To date about a quarter of the 200 stoats pulled from Capital Kiwi box traps have been collected from Te Kopahou reserve, a 600ha block of the South Coast running from the landfill to Ōwhiro Bay and Red Rocks.

SUPPLIED Until Capital Kiwi came along, Te Kopahou reserve has never had mustelid control.

Until Capital Kiwi came along, the Te Kopahou reserve has never had mustelid control.

Insul said when news of the nationwide lockdown broke, he drove out to check all the traps before it started.

About 30 of their members have been trained to check Capital Kiwi traps, and their four-wheel drives make checking the traps along the rugged coastline is a breeze.

"All of the membership and participants in this have really got their heart in it.

"They're really keen to knock these pests down to give the best possible chance for the release of kiwi."

Capital Kiwi had their "heart and soul" in the project, he said.

"I think they'll be absolutely marvellous if they can bring kiwis back."

HOW LOCKDOWN IS AFFECTING CAPITAL KIWI

Along with the rest of NZ, the Capital Kiwi team is bunkered down with their whānau to help see the back of the coronavirus, Ward said.

However, before downing their tools in March, all of Capital Kiwi's traps were re-baited - all box traps were loaded with fresh rabbit meat, and the A24 self-resetting traps had their lure pumps refreshed.

It would mean payoffs over the coming weeks during lockdown, Ward said.

"If it wasn't for lockdown we would've been fully-deployed by now … but Covid-19 won't be giving Wellington's stoats a free ride."

"As much as anything can be considered good timing in these circumstances, Capital Kiwi is pretty well-set."