Water hyacinth aerial surveillance now complete on the Birega Drain and Serpentine River
After a slight delay with weather conditions, aerial images were taken over the Easter long weekend of nearly 40km of the Serpentine River & Birega Drain. The area from the Forrest Highway to North of Mundijong Rd encapsulates the extent of the water hyacinth infestation, which has also been photographed from the air in 2016 and 2017. The recent repeat of the surveillance process has been funded by the Government of Western Australia, through the State NRM Program.
Last week, a meeting of stakeholders was held to discuss the ongoing eradication programs of water hyacinth, including the Dept of Communities and the Water Corporation – both Agencies manage sections of infestation. The meeting was a sharing of ideas and resources, and a direct result has been an additional area of surveillance captured over the weekend.
The contractor who carried out the image capturing is processing the many thousands of images and next week will be posting them for analysis by all you trusty Landcare volunteers out there!
As with the previous 2 years, this will be done from personal computers by individuals viewing images on a central website, taken by a camera mounted on a helicopter.
Follow this link to spot water hyacinth from the comfort of your own home.
