2023 marks 40 years of success for the landcare movement in Western Australia, starting from humble beginnings in the Wheatbelt region.
WA Landcare Network Chairperson, Mick Davis said, “WA’s Landcare movement has seen millions of trees planted; thousands of kilometres of corridors created; millions of tons of topsoil stabilised; countless areas of habitat for WA’ s unique species protected, enhanced, or planted; and people enjoying being part of something that makes a difference to their communities along the way.”
“Today grassroots landcare is a rich mosaic that has grown from these different origins, and which connects with a range of similar efforts across Australia. Groups of all shapes and sizes caring for where they live sharing landcare stories which are rich and varied, just like our beautiful State’, said Mr Davis.
‘It’s about looking after the land, waterways, coasts, and biodiversity, and most importantly, about the people who come together with a shared vision to restore and protect their local environments. Aligned with the 40 Years of Landcare celebrations we are establishing the WA Landcarers’ Hall of Fame, a repository of portraits, biographies, and timelines of this rich history to provide inspiration and education for generations to come’, said Mr Davis.
The WA Landcarers’ Hall of Fame will recognise those individuals who have contributed a lifetime of dedication through action, leadership, research, advocacy, policy, publication, and persistent hard work.
Landcare owes a great deal to the traditional custodianship of first nations people who have cared for the land for hundreds of thousands of years and to those early landcare adopters who stepped up. No movement is born overnight, and a lot had been happening around WA prior to 1983 in response to the degradation occurring in the environment. Landcare’s 40th birthday in WA pays tribute to all the actions that occurred around that time salinity was becoming more apparent and following years of dry and windy conditions.
WA Landcare Network (WALN) in collaboration with the First Nations community, community groups, WA Parliamentary Friends of Landcare and the whole sector looks forward to a season of celebrations commencing in Landcare Week Mon 7th – Sun 13th August 2023.
BACKGROUND
The Landcare movement was formalised in the early 1980s. The Soil and Land Conservation Act had been reformed in 1982, and in 1983 four government agencies in Western Australia supported ‘Soil Conservation Districts’ with local committees were formed, the first, at East Perenjori, closely followed by Yilgarn, Gingin and Jerramungup. Soon after the Western Australian Soil Conservation Service was established, and Soil Conservation District Committees, later called Land Conservation District Committees, sprung up across the State. By 1988, 60% of farmers and 90% of pastoralists were directly involved in community landcare. Isn’t that an amazing statistic!
Many of these Landcare groups involved several catchment groups working across each district. While all the original District Committees were based on farming and pastoral land, there was also a significant number of urban and rural local nature focused groups operating at the same time, such as the Ongerup Conservation Organisation, the Environment Centres in several regions and the early ‘Friends of’ groups.