Desoto Place Bushcare Group

04/08/2026

Some more great memories from Lake Day! Thank you very much for the opportunity to hold this event Peaks to Points Festival and Oxley Creek Catchment Association

03/08/2026

The 5A StarX students of Grand Avenue State School made an excellent poster for our Lake Day event. It’s wonderful to learn about caring for the environment from the kids!

03/08/2026

03/08/2026

We were thrilled to have the support of Grand Avenue State School staff and students in bringing the Meet the Pollutants materials to life through their art competition. The submissions were absolutely fantastic, with such creativity and effort from every year level.

Here are the winning pieces from Prep to Grade 5. Grade 6 were away at camp and couldn’t participate this time.

01/08/2026

We celebrated the lake today! It was wonderful to see Meet the Pollutant artwork by students from Grand Avenue State School, and wildlife show by Wildcall Wildlife Educational Display. It was a great opportunity to learn about our local wildlife and discover what we can do to reduce pollution entering the lake. Thanks to all who joined in ❤️🙏

01/08/2026

Thank you to everyone who came along to the lake day event today!

30/07/2026

There are heaps of great events on over the coming weeks for the Peaks to Points Festival. This citizen science forum sounds great! I didn't think we had echidna in Forest Lake, but we do. Sadly the only evidence I've seen so far is from road kill. But maybe if we know what to look for, we'll find them living in our Bushcare site 🙏

SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT - Dr Kate Dutton-Regester 🙂
"Echidna Detectives: Finding clues to uncover the secret lives of echidnas". At the Citizen Science Forum, Tue 4 Aug at the Archerfield Wetlands Community Hub, Durack.

Dr Kate Dutton-Regester is a wildlife scientist and Research Fellow at The University of Queensland who has worked with short-beaked echidnas for more than seven years. She leads an echidna research group at UQ and collaborates with Wildlife Queensland's EchidnaWatch program to improve understanding and conservation of echidnas in South East Queensland. Kate also leads Echidna Detectives, a community-based citizen science project that uses community observations and s**t samples to investigate echidna distribution, habitat use, road mortality and genetics.

Echidnas are one of Australia’s most recognisable animals, yet surprisingly little is known about their populations, movements and genetics. Echidna Detectives shows community members how to report sightings of live and deceased echidnas, recognise signs of echidna activity such as tracks, diggings and s**ts, and safely collect and submit s**t samples for research. These observations are helping researchers build a clearer picture of where echidnas occur and identify potential roadkill hotspots across South East Queensland. Submitted s**ts are also contributing to a growing sample bank that will support research into the genetics of this understudied species and help reveal how echidna populations are connected across the landscape.

👉 Book here: https://events.humanitix.com/citizen-science-forum

29/07/2026

This is an important message, especially for those of us who live in the catchment of the lake. Leaves and grass clippings are full of nitrogen, which makes our blue green algae problems worse. So collect and dump them in the green bin, not siren the drain 🙏

Next time you're mowing the lawn, remember—grass clippings and leaf litter don’t belong in stormwater drains! ❌🌊

Why? Apart from block drains, these natural materials break down and release excess phosphorus and nitrogen, which can upset the balance in our waterways, leading to poor water quality. 😬💧

Instead of hosing them into the gutter, pop them in your green lidded bin or use them as mulch to improve your garden naturally!

16/06/2026

I’m excited to share this lovely article about the Desoto Place Bushcare Group and the work we’re doing to care for the bushland and biodiversity around Forest Lake. It was my first time being interviewed for the media, and I’m really grateful for the chance to highlight the amazing things our volunteers are discovering and protecting.
If you’re curious about what we do or want to get involved, we’d love to have you join us.

Forest Lake’s very own environmental group is back up and running and eager to make an impact on the area. Desoto Place Bushcare Group leader Sarah Choudhury said the group welcomed people of all ages and backgrounds at its fortnightly meetups. Ms Choudhury says that leading Grand Avenue State Sch...