Criminals have damaged our tree planting site in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. More than 400 rainforest trees, some of them established through the donations of a ten year old boy who chipped in all his pocket money, have been ripped from the earth and left on the ground to die. 

The 400 trees that were destroyed were mostly planted by local Daintree community volunteers and others were planted by renowned gardener Costa Georgiadis.

The trees were destroyed on the evening of Wednesday the 14th of October. They were pulled out of the ground and left to die on an old service road which is now closed to traffic and being returned to rainforest habitat. 

Kelvin Davies with trees that have been pulled from the ground

This criminal act has occurred on the back of ongoing low-level vandalism which has included the destruction of signs, posts, and chains for over a year.

“Whoever is doing this has taken it to a new level,” said Daintree Life’s Dave Pinson of Daintree Life. 

Daintree Life removes weeds and replants rainforest trees on disused service roads and reserves north of the Daintree River. Rainforest 4 Foundation supports this work by providing funds for restoration works and helps to plant the trees.

“We are deeply upset and have no idea who would do this,” David said. “We mostly have great community support.”

The area that has been vandalised is surrounded by National Park and has no direct neighbours.

“Low-level vandalism has now been happening for over a year,” Dave said.

Unfortunately, the police have had to be involved in this matter. 

This act was not mere vandalism. Pulling out 400 trees took a concerted effort and it showed commitment and an intention to cause significant damage. But we are standing by, ready to come back bigger and bolder. Revegetating obsolete roads is part of our strategy to Save the Daintree. And we can’t do it without your help. Criminals may have killed 400 rainforest plants, but with your help, we can increase those efforts ten-fold. 

Please donate to our rainforest restoration efforts in the Daintree now. $10 plants and maintains one tree. Let’s send a clear message to these rainforest-destroying criminals that we won’t tolerate their hate-filled actions. Please donate now so we can urgently continue our rainforest restoration efforts.