The Leschenault Catchment Council (LCC) hosted another successful Love the Lesch Festival on Sunday 6 April in Australind, with the local community joined by residents and groups from across the region.
Set alongside the Leschenault Estuary shoreline, community groups including OzFish Australia, the Dolphin Discovery Centre, Keeping Australia Beautiful, the Peel-Harvey Biosecurity Group, GeoCatch, and more were in attendance.
The Healthy Estuaries WA team attended, using LCC’s catchment model to share how nutrients from the land eventually make their way into our estuaries. The team also shared information on our water quality monitoring work, fencing and revegetation projects, and sustainable agriculture program.
Water quality scientist Dr. Joanna Brown from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) said that “It was great to meet so many people interested in the health of the beautiful Leschenault Estuary.”
“Children and adults were really drawn to the catchment model, and we were able to demonstrate how the health of the estuary is dependent on the water flowing from the catchment and how our actions in the catchment can protect the Leschenault.”
Families of all ages enjoyed the Sunday festivities, with a student art poster competition, building a nature collage of a bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), and a treasure hunt in which children had to ask stallholders a question on how their work helped protect the estuary.
Jo mentioned, “The treasure hunt helped us chat to children and their parents about how Healthy Estuaries WA is working with farmers to improve the health of the waterways.”
Estuary scientist Dr. Anais Pages (DWER) commented, “It was great to see the strong interest the public had in seagrass meadows and macroalgae distributions in the Leschenault. There were plenty of thoughtful questions about seagrass recovery over the years and our recent observations, and many showed a keen interest in our latest publications.”
Adults also had activities on throughout the day, including bird walks, a dog brunch on responsible pet ownership, and a seagrass revegetation walk with OzFish Australia.
Presenters Josh Byrne (Gardening Australia) and Chris Ferreira (The Forever Project) shared on climate-resilient gardens and sustainable homes.
The Love the Lesch Festival was organised by the Leschenault Catchment Council and sponsored by Lotterywest, the Water Corporation, and DWER’s Healthy Estuaries WA.
Find out more about the Leschenault Estuary.