Byron Bay based not-for-profit Rainforest Rescue will come together this weekend to replant previously cleared areas of Daintree rainforest and create new habitat for the rare and threatened species that live there.
Rainforest Rescue runs projects to re-establish lost rainforests through planting, maintenance, and restoration programs, as well as purchasing and protecting high conservation value rainforest and preserving its biodiversity. In recent years their team has been working to restore ex-agricultural land bordering the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest and creating connectivity from the highlands to the sea.
This Saturday 6 May the group will come together to plant 4,000 native seedlings at Nightwings Rainforest Centre near Wonga Beach, this year's site for the group's annual National Tree Day community event. Rainforest Rescue started reforesting this area almost eight years ago, taking on the challenge of restoring sugarcane fields to rainforest habitat.
"We're always excited when we come together as a community to restore land from agriculture to rainforest," said Rainforest Rescue CEO Branden Barber.
The nature care efforts are being made possible by a grant from Planet Ark's Seedling bank program in the lead up to the organisation's National Tree Day campaign. The Seedling Bank program launched in 2019 with the goal of supplying native seedlings to schools and community groups participating in National Tree Day activities across the country.
"The Seedling Bank is our way of giving back to the thousands of Australian volunteers who roll up their sleeves each year to give something back to the environment as part of National Tree Day," said Rebecca Gilling, Planet Ark CEO.
"We have already directly supported 132 groups in their efforts to plant over 80,000 native trees, shrubs and grasses since the program's inception."
The Wonga Beach location is important because of its connectivity from the Dagmar Range of the Daintree to the sea, creating a restored refuge where the rare and threatened species of the Daintree, like the Southern Cassowary and Bennett's Tree-Kangaroo, can forage safely.
"If we can have more and more people witnessing firsthand these community tree planting days – thanks to the likes of Planet Ark's Seedling Bank – we will encourage more and more communities to be aware of why trees are the answer," said Rainforest Rescue CEO Branden Barber.
Schools Tree Day (July 28) and National Tree Day (July 30) are Australia's largest annual tree-planting and nature care events, with plantings taking place across the country on the last weekend of July.
