Landcare Australia is the name for a community not-for-profit organisation which involves local groups of volunteers repairing the natural environment. Originally projects focused on agricultural farmland. The idea was that farmers, conservationists and scientists could work together to improve both farm quality and natural ecosystems. The Landcare Australia organisation has grown and diversified since its small-scale origins in the 1980s. The Landcare concept has grown to include groups working on town and city green areas, waterways, beaches and larger park areas. For example, Landcare Australia now has Coastcare and "Junior Landcare" groups. These are unrelated to Caring for Country projects in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are involved. History The concept of "landcare" brings people together who share a common problem and usually live in the same drainage basin or "catchment", an area that collects and directs water to a common point. By working together in a catchment, land degradation problems can be tackled successfully. Many of the first groups were set up to eradicate rabbits in Australia and to address other specific farm land degradation issues. The Landcare concept has now extended beyond this, to include rural farming, lifestyle and community development. The movement began in Victoria, Australia in 1986 when a group of farmers near St Arnaud in central Victoria formed the first Landcare group, a voluntary group to repair the natural environment. Since then, the Landcare concept has spread across Australia and to about 15 other countries. There are approximately 4000 Landcare groups in Australia. Important people in the creation of Landcare were Rick Farley of the National Farmers Association, environment lobbyist Barbara Hardy AO and Phillip Toyne, both from the Australian Conservation Foundation. Former premier of Victoria Joan Kirner and Heather Mitchell were also early proponents of the idea. Landcare as an organisation received a great boost when the Australian Federal Government of Prime Minister Bob Hawke declared a decade of landcare and established a continuing funding mechanism to enable the volunteers to continue and expand their work. Activities The range of activities now included within Landcare programs has expanded to include research that measures effectiveness of previous activities, fencing out stock so that vegetation can regrow, creating windbreaks for livestock protection, channelling and speeding waterways, and combating soil salinity. Many of the tasks are carried out to correct mistakes in farming practices conducted decades ago and sometimes a project simply involve the sharing