“We have literally been running for 12 months,” she said.

“It’s been a very busy but also an enjoyable process bringing three different organisations together and

making them work in a cohesive way.

“Much thought and consideration has gone into the process and I believe we have a achieved a great deal and that the Hunter LLS is a success.”

Mrs Hooke praised the work of everyone involved, in particular the organisation’s general manager Brett Miners.

Mrs Hooke said as the start-up phase was now over she expected Hunter LLS to continue to expand its work with landholders throughout the region.

“We want to work closely with the landholders and hear from them as to what they want and how we can help them achieve their aims, she said.

But Mrs Hooke quickly added the organisation could not solve everyone’s issues.

“For example we can’t stop droughts but we can hold information sessions and provide advice to assist landholders in surviving those conditions and also in preparing them for future droughts,” she said

Among the projects to be continued next year are the campaigns to control and ideally eradicate wild dogs and feral pigs.

Already up and running are a community advisory group for the Lower Hunter area and hopefully before Christmas similar groups will be established in the Upper Hunter and Manning Great Lakes districts.

Another aim is to extend the organisation’s partnering with local governments to achieve bigger results than either single entity can achieve.

“We can see that joint projects achieve a far bigger outcome and we are also looking at partnering with ­private enterprises such as mining companies to once again have more clout to do the work that needs to be done,” Mrs Hooke said.

Also on the wish-list is an extra livestock office to cover the Manning-Great Lakes district.