PROJECT SNAPSHOT
Action: Purchase and protection of Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive (Lot 2 RP 738519)
Area: 1.17-hectares
Location: Forest Creek, Daintree Lowland Rainforest, Queensland
Vegetation type: Lot 2 comprises two distinct ecosystems by changes in soil/drainage conditions. One a Sclerophyll open woodland and the other a closed canopy Rainforest habitat
Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary
Fundraising Target: 105,000
Fundraising update on the 24th of July 2021.
Fundraising target to purchase and protect this property:
Amount raised: 100,050
Remaining target: $4,950
Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest
Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive at Forest Creek is a freehold property and can be developed for housing just as nearby properties have been in the past. We must act now to purchase and protect this property and save the important habitat from the threat of development.
Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive was recently listed for sale and I immediately secured an option to purchase this property so we can protect it in the Daintree National Park estate. Now I need to raise $105,000 with help from our partners HalfCut, to purchase and protect this special property. If the funds are not raised, this property may be sold to someone intent on developing the property for housing.
2 Thornton Peak Drive is a 1.17-hectare freehold property and subject to approval by Douglas Shire Council it can be developed for housing just as nearby properties have been in the past. We must act now to purchase and protect this property and save this important rainforest from the threat of development.
In the past year rainforest on nearby properties in Forest Creek have been clearing for rural residential development. That’s why, with your help, we will buy Lot 2 Thornton peak Drive and protect it forever.
Please make your tax-deductible donation today to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
Clearing on a nearby property in Forest Creek
Before we make a commitment to purchase a Daintree Rainforest property, we thoroughly assess its value to conservation. A vegetation survey was undertaken of 2 Thornton Peak Drive, Forest Creek on the 25th of June 2021 by ecologist Kristopher Kupsch.
The vegetation on 2 Thornton Peak Drive is remnant. A small house site was clearing in the past however this was abandoned and native vegetation is regrowing. The survey identified 117 native plant species. The survey of Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive, identified a number of plants that are locally endemic or listed as Threatened species. Please see the results of the survey here.
The survey confirmed the importance of protecting the property from the threat of development and that's why we moved quickly to exchange a contract of sale on this important piece of land. Now, what we need to do is raise $105,000 to complete the purchase.
Please make your tax-deductible donation today to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
A small creek occurs on Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive
Lot 2 comprises two distinct ecosystems by changes in soil/drainage conditions. One a Sclerophyll open woodland and the other a closed canopy Rainforest habitat.
Fan Palms (Licuala ramsayii) occur on the property and the species delineates the two main types of vegetation — the sclerophyll vegetation (sclerophyll forests generally are dominated by plants that have hard leaves adapted to drought and are fire-tolerant) — and the mesophyll vine forest (tropical rainforest) featuring these Fan Palms in abundance. A small creek runs through the rainforest.
During the survey, the presence of Cassowaries was noted from scats within the rainforest habitat near the creek in the eastern portions of the property.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive provides habitat for the Southern Cassowary
Many people we talk to believe that the Daintree is already protected in a national park, but that’s not the case. A subdivision was carved into the Daintree Lowland Rainforest in 1982. This created Thornton Peak Drive and hundreds of rural residential lots in Forest Creek. Many houses have been built which fragments the rainforest and occupation brings domestic dogs and exotic plants. This has damaged one of the most significant areas of tropical rainforests in Australia.
Together, we can ensure this development won’t go any further. All we need to do is buy this freehold property and add protect it in the Daintree National Park estate.
The current owners have given us an option to purchase. Now I need to raise $105,000. If the funds are not raised this property may be sold to someone intent on developing the property for housing.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
The Thornton Aspen is endemic to the Daintree Rainforest.
Three other Daintree Rainforest properties were cleared for housing development in Thornton Peak Drive in the past year.
The positive news is that we purchased the property adjoining Lot 2 in January 2020. Adding lot 2 will increase the area of protected land in Forest Creek and both properties share a boundary with the Daintree National Park and World Heritage Area.
We have now purchased eleven Daintree Rainforest properties in the past twenty months, we cannot stop there. We are purchasing one property on average every 60 days, but if we do not keep up the pace, many more will be lost to development.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
Lot 2 comprises two distinct ecosystems. A Sclerophyll open woodland and a Rainforest habitat.
Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive is located at Forest Creek in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. Buying land in this location helps us to reverse the impacts of the disastrous 1980’s rural residential subdivision. We are focusing our efforts at Forest Creek as there have been recent sightings of Bennet's Tree-kangaroo at this location.
Buying and protecting 2 Thornton Peak Drive will be a fantastic outcome for conservation as it will prevent another house from being built in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
With the help of thousands of people, in Australia and around the world we've raised the funds needed to purchase 11 properties since June 2019. Now we are ready to save 2 Thornton Peak Drive from the threat of development and all that is needed is your support.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
For the Daintree Rainforest,
Kelvin Davies
Founder
Rainforest 4 Foundation
Phone: 0437 423 119
P.S. You can donate now online or if you want to donate with a cheque/money order or through a direct deposit please see our Ways to Donate page.
P.P.S. If you have any questions about the purchase and protection of Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive please see our answers to frequently asked questions or email me at [email protected]. You can also call me during business hours at 0437 423 119.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
The project to purchase and protect land is a partnership involving the Rainforest 4 Foundation, Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation, and fellow non-profit HalfCut.
HalfCut has started its peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. If you wish to be brave, courageous, and have fun this August as a #HalfCutter to protect the Daintree rainforest, sign up and find more information here. Did you know over half of the world's forests have been destroyed? That's why they go HalfCut.
Thanks to Jimmy and Jess and all the HalfCut supporters for their important contribution to the purchase and protection of Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive.
CONSERVATION OF THE DAINTREE LOWLAND RAINFOREST.
The Daintree Lowland Rainforest is one of the oldest rainforests on Earth having survived undisturbed for over 120 million years. It holds exceptionally high biodiversity and conservation value and is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest remaining in Australia.
Rainforests once covered much of eastern Australia, however, as conditions became drier the rainforest contracted and today the Daintree provides a refuge for many unique species. The Bennett’s Tree-kangaroo, Musky Rat-kangaroo, and the Southern Cassowary can be found here, as well a number of endemic plant species that have retained the same primitive characteristics of their ancestors. The flora of the Daintree contains an almost complete record of the evolution of plant life on Earth, including extremely ancient flowering plant families found nowhere else.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
In 1982 the Queensland government approved an 1,137-lot rural residential subdivision in the Daintree. This resulted in two-thirds of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest being excluded from protection in the Daintree National Park and Wet Tropics World Heritage Area that was declared in 1988. The development that followed has resulted in fragmentation of the rainforest with the construction of roads and the building of hundreds of houses. Settlement has introduced exotic plants that have become weeds and domestic dogs and traffic that are a threat to wildlife. Because the land in question is in private ownership, the only option to resolve the issue has been the purchase and protection of additional lands to expand Daintree National Park.
Our vision for the Daintree Lowland Rainforest is to buy back land to remove the threat of further development and to address the impact of past development while supporting the Traditional Owners, the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people in caring for country.
While we purchase land at risk of development for housing we also purchase other freehold properties without development approvals to reverse the impacts of the disastrous subdivision by closing and revegetating obsolete roads.
Since 1992 non-profit organisations have purchased seventy-five properties for conservation.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
Threat to Wildlife, Climate People and Planet
Daintree Rainforest is regarded as an iconic national treasure for its unique evolutionary history and tremendous conservation value. A number of rare and endangered species are found within Daintree National Park, including the Southern Cassowary, large flightless birds that in Australia are found only in the wet tropical rainforests of Queensland. Southern Cassowaries consume over 150 different fruits and play a vital role as seed dispersers in the rainforest. Due to the destruction and fragmentation of their rainforest habitats, these large charismatic birds are classified as Vulnerable to extinction.
More than 430 other bird species have also been recorded in Daintree National Park, including rare or range-restricted species like the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher and the Lesser Sooty Owl, making the Daintree a Globally Important Bird Area. Many unique marsupials, reptiles and amphibians are also found in the Daintree Rainforest including the Bennett’s Tree-kangaroo, Musky Rat-kangaroo, Spotted-tailed Quoll and Boyd’s Forest Dragon.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
A risk to the Daintree comes from development for housing and fragmentation of the rainforest, which jeopardises the integrity of the ecosystem with increased human traffic and the introduction of exotic species. Expanding settlement results in the spread of exotic plants that become weeds and stress to wildlife from human traffic and introduced dogs. Further buyback of land for conservation is required urgently as there are calls for an upgrade to Cape Tribulation Road, to build a bridge over the Daintree River and to provide a reticulated electricity supply that would all lead to further development.
The purchase of additional properties will prevent further development to these sensitive areas while protecting and restoring critical habitat for wildlife. It will also allow for winding back past development through the closing of roads and the revegetation of land as habitat for Threatened species.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
Solution
We have identified this property at Lot 110 Palm Road, Diwan as a priority acquisition. We are working to purchase and transfer ownership of land to the Daintree National Park. This will strengthen protection for the Daintree Lowland Rainforest, help reverse the negative impacts of rural residential development, and offer the best path forward for ensuring the world’s most ancient rainforest continues to thrive for generations to come.
Buying land in the Daintree helps us to reverse the impacts of the disastrous 1980’s rural residential subdivision. All donations are tax-deductible, and receipts will be issued.
Please, join me and make a donation to purchase and protect Lot 2 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.
