Nearly 2000 kauri seedlings have been planted across five sites in Auckland's Waitākere Ranges in an effort to restore the native tree for future generations.
The Waitākere Ranges were largely closed in 2018 following a spread of kauri dieback disease, which attacks trees through the roots, carried in tiny traces of infected soil.
"We're just trying to do everything we can at the moment with the knowledge we have to ensure that people hundreds of years from now can still visit Te Wao Nui a Tiriwa and see giant kauri," Te Kawerau ā Maki Lead Ranger Stu Leighton said.
Auckland Council's biosecurity principal advisor Sarah Killick said it was "really hard" to eradicate it at this moment in time.
"We just don't have the tools."
She said it "feels like the end of an era" to bring kauri back. "It will be out here for a lot longer than I will be."
With no cure for kauri dieback, seeds were collected from 650 healthy trees around the country before being propagated in nurseries.
Selwyn Insley from Bioeconomy Science Institute Maiangi Taiao said "our organisation built strong relationships with 14 mana whenua around the country, iwi hapū, rōpū, and they agreed to collaborate with us so we could collect cone from 650 mother trees around the country."
Insley said some seed families may have a greater tolerance to the disease, improving their chances of survival once planted in the forest.
"There is understood to be tolerance across the families of the seed and the trees that were growing at Maiangi Taiao.
"There's an opportunity that when they're planted out in the ngahere they will grow better."
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