Save the Cassowary from Extinction in Australia

With great pleasure I bring you the latest Rainforest Rescue update, as always, THANK YOU so much for your continuing support!

ANNUAL COMMUNITY TREE PLANTING

On May 6th Rainforest Rescue held our 8th Annual Community Tree Planting at NightWings, and it was our biggest and best one yet, with over 140 individuals and Partners undertaking the journey to Far North Queensland. Together, we put a record breaking 3,300 trees from 90 different rainforest species into the ground, and all this in under one and a half hours!

As the climate in the area changes, we are already seeing movement of bird life from the higher to lower altitudes. In restoring this rainforest to what it once was, we are extending these corridors for all wildlife — in the NightWings area this particularly includes the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), bennett’s tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus) and the spectacled flying-fox (Pteropus conspicillatus).

Just recently, the team came across evidence that Spotted Whistling Ducks had been breeding on the NightWings restoration site. Almost no documentation on this species exists (including what their nests and eggs look like) and no evidence of this species has been seen in the Daintree before - but they are now living and breeding here!

This is a perfect example of why more monitoring is needed - to better understand bird life is to better protect and support them - and share these findings to the whole region and beyond. This is critically important now as the earth warms and the patterns of our wildlife shift to adapt.

SOFT LAUNCH OF OUR NEW NURSERY

After the tree planting, many tree planters headed north of the Daintree River for a ‘soft opening’ and tour of the new Rainforest Rescue Native Nursery.

Rainforest Rescue Ecological Advisor and Nursery Project Manager, Allen Sheather, updated attendees on the nursery’s progress, announcing how it has finally attained ‘complete plant cycle status’—producing trees from germination through to the pre-planting stage.

“At the moment we have 21,000 plants since moving here in January. It’s a big step forward already, we came from a little bush nursery growing about 12,000 trees a year. We’re going to be collecting a lot more seeds, so we will be adjusting the way in which we collect, minimising the pressure on the environment while still maintaining genetic diversity.”
–Marine Deliens, Rainforest Rescue’s Nursery Manager

It was so great to finally show off all the hard work our nursery team has put in the past year to make this happen.

A DOUBLE RESCUE AND A GREAT RESULT!

And hot off the proverbial press, Rainforest Rescue just announced the news of our latest rescue of Lots 11 & 12 Forest Creek Road! These two outstanding and intact rainforest properties increase the area of the Rainforest Rescue Nature Refuge and Forest Creek Wildlife Corridor. Both have National Park and World Heritage Area connectivity, and the total size is around two hectares, bringing the total area of this corridor to almost 28 full hectares of intact Daintree Rainforest habitat.

This is a great result!

Together we are doing real and meaningful work that is making a difference. Do not underestimate the power of your support in this. What you’re doing today with Rainforest Rescue is something that we will all be able to look back on and feel both pride and accomplishment. Together we are strong.

Thank you for being a part of our mission to Protect Rainforests Forever.