New Twelve months on from West Vic’s drought, Warrnambool Landcare has a plan to “bring life” back to local farmland

A Warrnambool landscape restoration project is aiming to plant one million trees and restore 400 hectares of land by 2040 in a response to declining biodiversity in the region following extreme weather like drought and grassfires.

What is it? The new program, LandLife SouthWest, comes after two years of pilot projects that organisers say revealed local farmers had strong interest in improving their soil health, drought resilience and native vegetation on their properties.

The Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Network (WCLN) will lead the initiative, focused on encouraging and practicing regenerative farming through community tree planting days and workshops.

Harsh conditions: WCLN senior landcare facilitator Geoff Rollinson said south west Victoria’s agricultural industry was increasingly under strain from hotter and dried conditions.

• “These shifts are placing increasing pressure on townships, communities and agricultural landscapes that have already been heavily modified by decades of intensive farming,” said Rollinson.

• “It will open opportunities to connect fragmented native vegetation areas and create wildlife corridors, increase biodiversity and native vegetation, improve soil and water quality and animal health and bring life back to the land”.

Better for business: The Brolga previously spoke to Panmure beef farmer Stephen Warth, who participated in the pilot program to find solutions for his farm after experiencing major impacts from last year’s drought.

• About half of Warth’s 60-acre property “barely grew a blade of grass for a while”, he told the Brolga in September. 

• Warth said the program has highlighted the importance of improving soil and plant health in running a sustainable farming business.

A long-term vision: WCLN chairman Bruce Campbell said the initiative was a long-term investment in both environmental restoration and agriculture.

• “It’s not a three-year plan, it’s a 30-year plan to build a truly sustainable agriculture industry in our region,” Campbell said.

• The program has received funding from the Fletcher Jones Family, Gall Family, the Brodie foundation, and the Gwen and Edna Jones foundation.

Hotter conditions in the years to come: Climate modelling shows southwest Victoria is likely to experience hotter, drier conditions in coming decades, with more frequent droughts. 

The Victorian government’s Climate Science Report 2024 warns the state faces increasing heatwaves, droughts and bushfires, driven by rising temperatures, declining winter rainfall and drier soils.