PURCHASE OF LOT 398 MAPLE ROAD, COW BAY IN THE DAINTREE LOWLAND RAINFOREST

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Action: Purchase Lot 398 Maple Rd, Cow Bay (RP739004)

Area: 1.412 hectares

Location: Cow Bay, Queensland

Vegetation type: The vegetation on Lot 398 Maple Road is classified as 7.11.1a Mesophyll vine forest in lowlands and foothills on metamorphic soils. This is a very wet rainfall zone

Endangered Ecological Community: Lowland tropical rainforest of the Wet Tropics ecological community is listed in the Endangered Category under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), Noah’s Walnut (Endiandra microneura)

Fundraising update for the 6th of October 2022.

Target to purchase and protect this property: $28,240

Amount raised: $8,018

Remaining target: $20,222 

Lot 398 Maple Road 

We are purchasing Lot 398 Maple Road in Cow Bay to fulfil our vision for the conservation of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. This requires the buyback of undeveloped freehold properties in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest and ensuring the land is included in the Daintree National Park (CYPAL) where it can be managed for its exceptional conservation values.

This freehold property deserves the same level of protection as the adjacent Daintree National Park and World Heritage Area so we will now purchase Lot 398 Maple Road and ensure it is managed for conservation. Its strategic location at the end of Maple Road makes this an important acquisition as we work towards reversing the impacts of the subdivision created in 1982. 

A large Hopes Cycad over 1,000 years old and an intact canopy of old-growth rainforest trees make Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest an important acquisition for conservation. 

There is no evidence on the property of past clearing and the canopy trees are 60 meters tall. There are also many old-growth trees with hollows that provide habitat for Birds, Snakes, Gliders, Possums, Bats, and other tree-dwelling animals.

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.00 you donate will help save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $20 you will help purchase ten square metres of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will help purchase twenty-five square metres and $100 will help purchase fifty square metres of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

Tropical Rainforest on Lot 398 Maple Road

Two species found on Lot 398 are listed as Threatened in the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992. Noah’s Walnut (Endiandra microneura) is listed as Near Threatened and the Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) is listed as Endangered. 

The assemblage of plants on Lot 398 Maple Road has many species within the primitive plant family “Lauraceae”, all of which provide food for the Cassowary. We have been focusing on land acquisition in Cow Bay as scientists have identified this area as providing an “Essential habitat for the Endangered Southern Cassowary”. 

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.00 you donate will help save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $20 you will help purchase ten square metres of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will help purchase twenty-five square metres and $100 will help purchase fifty square metres of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

Cassowary at Cow Bay in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest

Another exceptional feature of the property is a large Hopes Cycad (Lepidozamia hopei). These cycads are very slow-growing and this specimen is estimated at over 1,000 years old. They are endemic to Queensland and are the world's largest species of cycad.

Also found on Lot 398 Maple Road was the Zamia Fern (Bowenia spectabilis) which is actually a species of cycad, a very ancient group of plants. They don't produce flowers and reproduce by means of cones borne on separate male and female plants. The cones of the Zamia Fern seem to pop out of the ground! The Zamia Fern is endemic to Queensland and they are the world's smallest species of cycad. 

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.00 you donate will help save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $20 you will help purchase ten square metres of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will help purchase twenty-five square metres and $100 will help purchase fifty square metres of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

Zamia Fern (left) and Hopes Cycad

This freehold property deserves the same level of protection as the adjacent Daintree National Park and World Heritage Area. Lot 398 was excluded from inclusion in the Daintree National Park when it was declared in 1988. To ensure the Threatened species found at Lot 398 Maple Road are managed appropriately we will purchase this property and all we need is your help. 

Buying and protecting this property will be a fantastic outcome for conservation as it is located at the end of Maple Road and connects to the Daintree National Park. We have purchased 14 properties in Cow Bay in the last two years including Lot 390 Maple Road. This improves connectivity and enables an improved management regime for the conservation of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. 

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.00 you donate will help save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $20 you will help purchase ten square metres of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will help purchase twenty-five square metres and $100 will help purchase fifty square metres of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

Fan Palms (Licuala ramsayi) on Lot 398 Maple Road

Buying land in this location helps us to wind back the impacts of the disastrous 1980’s rural residential subdivision. In 1982 the Queensland government approved a 1,136-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. Lot 398 Maple Road is one of these properties.

Following the purchase of this property, we will begin the process for it to be transferred into the Daintree National Park (CYPAL) estate. 

Lot 398 Maple Road at Cow Bay is 1.412-hectares in size and is completely covered by tropical rainforest. For the purchase and protection of Lot 398 Maple Road, we are raising $28,240. At 1.412-hectares this is a cost of $2.00 per sqm. 

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.00 you donate will help save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $20 you will help purchase ten square metres of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will help purchase twenty-five square metres and $100 will help purchase fifty square metres of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

Lot 398 Maple Road at Cow Bay

Endangered Ecological Community

The Daintree Lowland Rainforest itself has now been identified as part of an Endangered Ecological Community. In November 2021 the Australian Government listed the lowland tropical rainforest of the Wet Tropics ecological community, in the Endangered Category under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The listing is effective as of Friday 26 November 2021 and includes the Wet Tropics of North Queensland, from near Ingham (just south of the Cardwell Range) in the south to north around Cape Tribulation. While now listed as Endangered the Daintree Lowland Rainforest is still not fully protected. The freehold properties in the Daintree lowland remain at risk from rural residential development.

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.00 you donate will help save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $20 you will help purchase ten square metres of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will help purchase twenty-five square metres and $100 will help purchase fifty square metres of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

BACKGROUND 

In 1982 the Queensland government approved a 1,136-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. Lot 398 Maple Road in Cow Bay is one of these properties.

The Daintree Lowland Rainforest is one of the oldest rainforests on Earth and provides a refuge for wildlife and ancient flowering plants. It holds exceptionally high biodiversity and conservation value and is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest remaining in Australia. With almost 200 undeveloped properties remaining in private ownership, the future of the Daintree is yet to be determined. Will it be increased development and urbanisation, or will it be the winding back of the disastrous subdivision to save the Daintree Rainforest. 

Lot 398 Maple Road at Cow Bay is 1.412-hectares in size and is completely covered by tropical rainforest. For the purchase of Lot 398 Maple Road, we are raising $28,240. At 1.412-hectares this is a cost of $2.00 per sqm. 

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.00 you donate will help save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $20 you will help purchase ten square metres of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will help purchase twenty-five square metres and $100 will help purchase fifty square metres of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

STRONGER TOGETHER

The project to purchase and protect land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest is a partnership involving the Rainforest 4 Foundation, Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation, and fellow non-profit HalfCut. We recognise that we are Stronger Together and raise funds for the buyback of properties in the Daintree Rainforest and their management for conservation.  

A large Hopes Cycad over 1,000 years old and an intact canopy of old-growth rainforest trees make Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest an important acquisition for conservation. 

We’ve provided answers to the most frequently asked questions for the purchase and protection of Lot 398 Maple Road in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. 

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Ecologist and botanist Kristopher Kupsch has encountered what is thought to be a new species of Gardenia in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

A species of Dysoxylum only seen once in the Daintree has likely been destroyed by development.