The first Green Army team has been a great success in the Narromine and Warren shires.
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Federal member for Parkes, Mark Coulton visited Narromine yesterday to meet with the inaugural army and find out how their work was going.
Mr Coulton was impressed with the work of small team of locals.
The MP described the Green Army as an environment and employment program.
"A lot of these guys haven't had jobs, they start at 6.30am, they have some structure and planning to life. The confidence and self respect comes with it," Mr Coulton said.
The Green Army has been hard at work for the last two months at the Macquarie River, Narromine and Warren Wetlands and many other reserves in the shire.
Working in conjunction with RiverSmart the Green Army is working hard to keep Narromine and Warren beautiful.
Project Supervisor Lindy Crowther said the members of the Green Army are getting alot of out their work.
"The guys are getting a lot out of it. They get their work safety certificates, first aid certificate, a few are getting their L's," she said.
"It's a good education for the guys,a real eye opener, an opportunity to do it."
Mrs Crowther said the team had a lot of work to keep them going. "We move around a lot of the reserves. We have a classroom in Warren for rainy days. There's been a lot of support," she said.
"A lot of the guys get a lot of manual labour."
The Green Army project is an initiative of the federal government, Mr Coulton worked closely with Dr Bill Phillips in the Macquarie Region.
Dr Phillips thanked the Narromine Rotary, Central West Local Land Services, NRMA Insurance, Narromine Shire Council and Mr Coulton.
"It's a project that involves a lot of different players," Dr Phillips said.
The current team runs through until April when others who are interested in being a part of the the Green Army can be recruited.
"We reemploy in April," Mrs Crowther said.
"I don't think there's a day that goes buy when we don't get an expression of interest."
Mr Coulton hopes local businesses will reap the benefits from the Green Army. "My hope is local employees will start to take these guys on as casual employees and work into something," Mr Coulton said.
