WA conservationist recognised with Order of Australia Medal

KIM Sarti believes you should leave Earth in a better place than when you arrived.

The Carlisle resident has dedicated much of his life to environment and conservation at various volunteer roles at organisations such as the Welshpool-based WA Museum Collections and Research Centre, the Wildflower Society of WA and the Urban Bushland Council Western Australia.

His hard work in projects to conserve bushland and keeping an eye on cockatoo numbers has been recognised with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM).

Mr Sarti he said his passion for environment began when he moved to Kelmscott in 1975.

“I wanted some native plants for my garden and so I met up with the Armadale branch of the Wildflower Society of WA and by the next year, I was president,” he said.

“The group operates under the credo ‘know, grow, conserve and grow’ with our goal being to maintain conservation estates and Bush Forever sites.

“You don’t what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

Mr Sarti began volunteering with the WA Museum in 2001 and has been involved in projects such as the The Cockatoo Care Program.

“I used to catch a train from Kelmscott into the city, where I worked for Telstra and I would talk to (Curator of Ornithology) Ron Johnstone,” he said.

“Telstra made me redundant in and so I started volunteering at the museum, “I’ve got a scientific interest and so I’m been involved in flora, bird and vertebrate surveys.

“The biggest project that I worked on was Bungendore Park, which is a piece of bush that problems of illegal dumping.

“The Cockatoo Care Program was a citizen science project, which involved people sending in their observations and I helped our with the database.

“It’s been eye-opening, you get a look behind the scenes and work with scientific people.”

Mr Sarti said he was shocked to receive the OAM.

“My first reaction was ‘whoa’ but it’s great because it’s recognition from my peers,” he said.

“All my work in the community groups has been a team effort as the saying goes ‘if you want to be successful then surround yourself with successful people.’”

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