The proposed Makarora Valley Sanctuary could span from the head of Lake Wanaka to the top of the Haast Pass, and the width of the Makarora River catchment with the ridgelines on either side forming the natural boundaries.
The project is an initiative of the Forest and Bird Protection Society Central Otago-Lakes branch and is supported by the Department of Conservation.
The organisations have worked in partnership in the area since 1998 protecting the rare native bird the mohua (yellowhead) through predator-trapping and monitoring of the mohua population.
Forest and Bird branch chairman Mark Ayre said the ecosanctuary proposal had been anticipated for some time as an extension of the mohua protection programme and was a similar concept to the Ark in the Park ecorestoration project in the Waitakere Ranges.
There are no physical barriers between Ark in the Park and the surrounding forest, but continuous predator control within its boundaries create what is known as a ''mainland island'' of sanctuary to allow flora and fauna to recover and species to be reintroduced.
The Makarora project would have the same goals, along with a major focus on educational and tourism aspects, Forest and Bird branch committee member Bruce Jefferies said.
Despite the high volumes of traffic travelling from the West Coast to the Queenstown Lakes region via the Haast road, the vast majority of visitors travelled straight through, he said.
''We're not predicting any earth-shattering changes in that pattern but we'll be looking at ways that we can hopefully enhance [it] so that people do take advantage of some of the recreational and educational possibilities. This is an outstanding piece of New Zealand.''
This weekend's workshop did not aim to endorse any particular approach to restoration and there was an ''open slate'' on possibilities.
The first steps would be to define its scope and identify the values in the targeted area, in order to derive a cohesive management plan.
''We'll be looking at the threats to those values and ... invasive species, both plants and animals, are going to be one of those threats.''
Scientists, ecologists, businesses, Makarora Valley residents and runholders have been invited to the workshop.
Mr Ayre said the sanctuary would extend beyond the boundaries of Mount Aspiring National Park, provided relevant stakeholders agreed.
''It does include the whole community and the farmland and everything like that. That's what we'd like to do.
''Forest and Bird sort of has a vision but it might not be the same, perhaps, as the people that live in Makarora, it might not be the same as the tourists want that travel down the Haast road or what Transit New Zealand wants.''
Other threatened species identified in the area include kaka, rock wren and the blue duck.
There were old records and anecdotal sightings of kiwi in the valley in the past and there was potential for such species to be reintroduced, Mr Ayre said.
