The last projects will be rolled out in coming months after the federal government confirmed in December the Green army program would be scrapped from the next budget.

Only in August was a team launched by Farrer MP Minister Sussan Ley, as a joint initiative between eight organisations including Holbrook Landcare.

Chief executive Dale Stringer said the five young people who participated had made their mark across the Greater Hume over six months.

“We had some great outcomes on various sites which included tree planting, weed control, access to bike tracks, and also on areas like the Billabong Creek at Culcairn,” he said.

“The works they did were quite diverse – they went out as far as Burrumbuttock, working with a lot of different properties and reserves.

“With us, they did plant identification, site surveys and various different things to help them build skills in environmental management.”

Two Greater Hume green armies will have operated by the time the funding ends.

Mr Stringer said while it was unlikely Holbrook Landcare would have applied in a future round, the benefits of the program were clear.

“A lot of the real outcomes we saw were for the participants; it was a learning and development opportunity for them and built their confidence,” he said.

“We have one other team starting on at the end of February, which was awarded during the previous rounds.”

On the Border, the final green army teams will be finishing their work in May.

Parklands Albury-Wodonga ranger Ant Packer said the 56 members who had taken part over the years had accomplished work the organisation wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.

“For us, whatever the green army does is a bonus, but what’s important is it's employment for six months for young people,” she said.

“It’s about getting them skilled up and building their work ethic.

“It’s disappointing there’s now not that opportunity working in the environment.”

Scrapping the program will save the federal government $224 million over four years.

Mr Stinger hoped that money would be reinvested appropriately.

“The real tragedy would be if the green army ended and the funding didn’t come back to natural resource management,” he said.

“We have other programs that deal with linkeages and getting more vegetation into the landscape.

“There are all sorts of programs we’d like to see money put into.”