LAST week the Darling Downs Moreton Rabbit Board farewelled one of its longest serving members.

Rod Towner joined the board in 1990 and served continuously for 26 years, including serving as the board's chairman for 13

years between 2000 and 2013.

Mr Towner said without the rabbit fence, which the board was responsible for maintaining, things would be very different.

"One of my pet sayings is that if the board wasn't there and two rabbits under ideal conditions, can become about 2000 rabbits within 18 months, we wouldn't have a pastoral or agricultural industry in the Darling Downs and Lockyer Valley, and we'd all be eating our fruit and vegetable imported from Israel or California,” he said.

Mr Towner said the fence was 555km long and stretched from Mt Gipps

near the Gold Coast through along Stanthorpe and Inglewood, up to Millmerran and Chinchilla to Goombi

near Miles.

There the fence meets the dingo or wild dog barrier fence, which stretches through Queensland to

the South Australia border before traversing the state

to the Great Australian Bight.

Mr Towner said when he joined the board he had been a member of Laidley Shire Council and knew how bad the rabbit problem was in New South Wales.

"I always interested in protecting our environment and trying to lessen the rabbit problem,” he said.

Board chairman Ross Bartley said Mr Towner's dedication would be

missed.

"He has a unique passion for the board, its survival and what it does,” he said.