Local youths have contributed some interesting and insightful ideas to the Black Diamond feasibility study.
Allanson Primary School students weighed in on the two draft master plans, which are aimed at turning the Instagram-famous lake into a well-managed tourist attraction that will draw more visitors to the area.
School captain Mia Beale, 11, said students wanted to provide advice about the play and picnic areas because they were the ones who would use the space, not the adults creating the plans.
"I think we see things a bit different to adults and we have different ideas of what we like to do," she said.
"We brought things up like a flying fox into the water, a BMX track and other fun stuff we think they missed out on.
"When it comes to the placement of the playground and picnic area, we felt it was too separated.
"Sometimes you want to be able to play, but not be so far from your parents and parents always want to keep an eye on their kids, so we suggested they bring the two together a bit more."
The girls said they were excited for the area to get a face lift, but having the area remain true to its origins was important to them.
"I like to walk my dog down to the lake and have been since forever and it's good that they're adding in bins and stuff but I hope they don't ruin the bush," Holly Stewart said.
"We suggested they make sure they put bike racks if there's a bike area so the environment isn't wrecked by bikes thrown down and not cutting down so many trees to clear the area."
The Collie River Valley Marketing group was awarded $70,000 under the Collie Futures Small Grants Program and engaged with consulting company Harley Dykstra to lead the feasibility study to review all existing and potential future uses for the area.
Consultant lead Henry Dykstra said consulting with local youth during the second round of consultations was important because he wanted to give ownership to those who would be the future users of the lake.
"These plans will take a few years to come to fruition, so these children will be the future users and owners of the lake so it's important to ensure their voices are heard and they want to be users of the lake," he said.
"There were some crazy, out-there ideas, like a shark tank and trampoline inside the lake itself, but they did bring insightful ideas we hadn't thought of."
