The Warrenbayne Boho Land Protection Group, the first of its type formed in Australia, celebrated four decades at its recent annual general meeting.
It welcomed founding and life member Pam Robinson as a guest speaker.
Living on a farm in the Warrenbayne area in the late 1970s, Pam began noticing an issue with patches of grass where nothing would grow.
“Myself and my neighbour, Angus Howell, discovered that there were areas in our paddocks where the pasture cover had gone off, exposing the soil,” Pam said.
“We noticed that sheep were rolling in it.”
The pair took soil samples to the Soil Conservation Authority in Benalla, where it was discovered that the problem was dryland salinity.
With the help of the soil conservation committee, they discovered the cause of the issue was the over-clearing of trees.
“At the time, and in the years before, it was part of a government grant to make space for farming and paddocks,” Pam said.
Pam, Angus and other local farmers officially formed the Warrenbayne Boho Land Protection Group to address issues such as dryland salinity as a collective.
Ms Robinson also served on the first state and national Landcare advisory committees.
After leaving Warrenbayne for Melbourne in 2000, Pam continued her conservation efforts and looked at the broader issue of climate change, which she focused on while living in the Northern Territory.
She has since returned to Melbourne and was proud to visit her old home town of Warrenbayne for the meeting.
“It was nice of them to ask me to speak,” she said.
“It was a celebration of 40 years and an opportunity to let everyone know about the great work they do.
“When we started, we had no idea it would still be going 40 years later.”
Pam said she was keen to ensure the Warrenbayne Boho Land Protection group was recognised for the movement it started all those years ago.
“We knew when we started that we were on to something wonderful,” she said.
“There are now Landcare groups across Australia, with farmers working together as a collective.”
For more information on membership and the group, email the secretary at wblpgsecretary@gmail.com