Len Howard

Len Howard Conservation Park is a small conservation reserve in the Swan Coastal Plain area near the City of Mandurah, south of Perth. The park protects banksia woodland and wetland habitats in a zone under significant urban development pressure. Named after Len Howard, a conservationist who contributed to protecting natural areas in the southwest. The park is managed by DBCA and provides an important green corridor in the peri-urban landscape south of Perth.

The park supports the fauna typical of coastal plain banksia woodland and wetlands: western grey kangaroos, brush wallabies, quendas, and a diverse bird assemblage. Carnaby's black-cockatoo forages on banksias. The wetland margins attract waterbirds seasonally. Reptiles including bobtail lizards and various skinks shelter in the dense heath understorey.

Banksia woodland dominates — Banksia attenuata, B. menziesii, and B. ilicifolia — over heath understorey of Xanthorrhoea, Hibbertia, and diverse spring-flowering shrubs. Wetland communities include paperbarks (Melaleuca rhaphiophylla) and sedges. The coastal plain vegetation provides habitat for several Declared Rare Flora species. Spring wildflowers are diverse and showy.

The park sits on the Swan Coastal Plain — Quaternary aeolian sands (Bassendean and Spearwood systems) overlying limestone and clay. Seasonal wetlands in topographic depressions are groundwater-dependent, connected to the Jandakot or Gnangara groundwater mounds.

Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Annual rainfall 700–800 mm concentrated in winter. Groundwater-dependent wetlands are sensitive to declining winter rainfall associated with climate change.

The Mandurah area is part of Bindjareb Noongar country. The coastal plain south of Perth was important Noongar country, with extensive use of coastal and inland habitats for food, fishing, and cultural practice. European settlement of the Mandurah area occurred from the 1830s.

Len Howard Conservation Park was reserved to protect remnant coastal plain vegetation and wetland habitats in the face of rapid urbanisation of the Mandurah-Perth corridor. DBCA manages the park with weed control and prescribed burning.

Bush walks through banksia woodland. Spring wildflower observation. Birdwatching for black-cockatoos. The park provides accessible natural space for residents of the southern Perth metropolitan area.

Located near Mandurah in the Peel Region. Access via local roads. Minimal facilities. Free entry. Mandurah provides full visitor services.

Urbanisation encroachment, weed invasion, groundwater decline, and feral predators are primary threats. Banksia woodland is a threatened ecological community on the Swan Coastal Plain.