Can we save another property in the Daintree Rainforest?

This is the question we now have to ask, and we're in a race against time. 

The sale of land and construction of houses continues year after year. If this keeps going, the remaining undeveloped Daintree Rainforest blocks will all be developed for housing. This really is a race against the development of the world's oldest rainforest. 

The world's oldest rainforest is still for sale. 

There is a simple solution: land buyback.

There are multiple at-risk Daintree properties that could be purchased for conservation right now. However, to bring another property under contract I need to have the money to pay for a deposit.

Unless I can raise the funds needed for a deposit on the next property, I have to pause the program. I don't want that to happen. There are at-risk Daintree properties that need to be saved now. 

To commit to buying a Daintree Rainforest property, l need a 25% deposit. The last property cost $200,000, so I'm raising $50,000 for a deposit. This will enable us to obtain a contract of sale and the confidence we can raise the remaining funds. 

Please, make a donation now to purchase and protect another property in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

Prefer to use PayPal? Please donate here.

Clearing in preparation for housing development. 

Over the past four years, we have purchased a Daintree Rainforest property for conservation every 50 days.  

That's a total of 29 Daintree Rainforest properties in four years, thanks to thousands of generous donors.  

It's an amazing achievement and a significant outcome for the conservation of the world's oldest rainforest. 

To buy so many properties, we've used all our available resources. We've worked hard to line up the properties back-to-back, and sometimes had two or three under contract at any one time. As soon as we raise the funds for one property, we bite off the next challenge. We haven't left any fuel in the tank. 

Now we have to ask - can we do it again? 

It's not illegal for Daintree property owners to develop their blocks for housing. All they need is development approval from the Douglas Shire Council.

That's because 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. 

Now, when freehold properties come on the market, some are purchased for development. Some are purchased for conservation. 

Before we can commit to buying another Daintree Rainforest property, l need to raise $50,000 for a deposit. 

Please, make a donation now to purchase and protect a 30th property in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

Prefer to use PayPal? Please donate here.

The rare Bennett's Tree-kangaroo 

Can we save the world's oldest rainforest from further development? 

Development in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest causes the fragmentation and degradation of this precious ecosystem, home to cassowaries, the Bennett's tree-kangaroo, musky rat-kangaroo and other endangered wildlife.

I know you don't want that to happen - you've proven that though your support of our successful land buyback program. 

However, we are in a race against time and don't have cash upfront to buy the properties.

For four years, every 50 days, we have purchased a Daintree Rainforest property for conservation. That's been funded by people like you and me making decisions about the future of the Daintree.

Please, make a donation now to purchase another property in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

Prefer to use PayPal? Please donate here.

When I was last in Cow Bay, I was lucky enough to see two cassowaries emerge and walk about 100m along the path before returning to the rainforest. It was a wonderful sight. With just 4,400 cassowaries believed to remain in Australia's wet tropical rainforests, we must do everything we can to save them.

The number one threat to southern cassowaries in the Wet Tropics is the loss and degradation of habitat through clearing for housing and the introduction of exotic plants. Fortunately the solution is simple - land buyback for conservation. Please help me raise the money for a deposit on another Daintree block.

I need to raise $50,000 as soon as possible. Can you help?

Please, make a donation now to purchase and protect a 30th property in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

Prefer to use PayPal? Please donate here.

Thank you to everyone helping to Save the Daintree Rainforest. Together we are creating a better future for wildlife, climate, people and the planet.

Kelvin Davies

Founder, Rainforest 4 Foundation

P.S. Please, will you help to save more pieces of the Daintree with an affordable monthly gift? 

Your monthly gift will support the purchase of at-risk freehold properties and protect them forever. Each $2.50 donated will purchase 1 sqm of the Daintree Rainforest. Every $5 you donate will help save 2 square meters of the Daintree Rainforest from the threat of development. A $25 donation will help save 10 square meters of beautiful tropical rainforest. A donation of $50 will help save 20 square meters and $100 will help save 40 square meters of World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest. 

Donations are tax-deductible and receipts will be issued. Other frequently asked questions are answered here. 

It only takes a few moments to make your affordable monthly donation, so please, join us now on this page.

PURCHASE OF LOT 26 RONALD ROAD, IN THE DAINTREE LOWLAND RAINFOREST

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Action: Purchase Lot 26 Ronald Road (RP733653) 

Area: 2.093 hectares

Location: Forest Creek, Queensland

Vegetation type: Lowland Tropical Rainforest (remnant and regrowth) 

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

Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), China Camp Laurel (Beilschmiedia castrisinensis), Cyclophyllum costatum (no common name), Gray’s Walnut (Endiandra grayi), Noah’s Walnut (Endiandra microneura), Climbing Pandan (Freycinetia percostata)

At just over 2 hectares, the Lowland Tropical Rainforest on Daintree Lot 26 Ronald Road provides habitat for several threatened animal and plant species, including an endangered population of Southern Cassowaries, the Climbing Pandan and Noah’s Walnut. There have also been sightings of the rare Bennett’s Tree-kangaroo nearby. 

Lot 26 Ronald Road has 188 native plant species including the Brown Pine (Podocarpus grayae). These trees can grow up to 30 metres tall and are found in well-developed rainforests from sea level to around 1,000 metres. Podocarpaceae is an ancient family of conifers that have their origins in the supercontinent of Gondwana. You can read a summary of the Lot 26 Roanld Road survey here. 

The acquisition of Lot 26 Ronald Road helps to fulfil our vision for the conservation of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest, which requires the buyback of all undeveloped freehold properties so they can be managed for their exceptional conservation values.

With the purchase of this property, we are preventing its development and fragmentation of the landscape. Fragmentation occurs when forests are reduced in the area through deforestation, road building, or other developments, dividing the forest into smaller blocks and creating what is known as the edge effect. The impacts of the edge effect have been thoroughly documented over several decades and show the significant detrimental effects on biodiversity.

Through this process, we are reversing the negative impacts of the subdivision of the Daintree in the 1980s that created 1,136 freehold properties.

The endangered Southern Cassowary

Lot 26 Ronald Road was offered for sale on the open market and could have been sold to someone wishing to develop the property. That's why we took action and exchanged a contract of sale and paid a deposit. On June 29, 2023 we raised enough funds to secure its purchase. 

View from Lot 26 Ronald Road 

Thank you to the generous donors who funded the purchase and protection of this Daintree Rainforest Property.

You can learn more about our project Land Purchase to Save the Daintree here. 

Please make a donation now to help purchase the next Daintree Rainforest property. 

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.

LAND PURCHASE ON THE ATHERTON TABLELANDS

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Action: Purchase and protection of Maalan Cloud Forest

Area: 83 hectares (approximately 45 hectares of remnant rainforest)

Additional actions: Revegetation of 35 hectares to complete the wildlife corridor and connect two isolated national parks within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. 

Location: Number 252 (Lot 535) Maalan Road, Maalan, Far North Queensland (Lot 535 NR2668)

Vegetation type: Regional Ecosystem 7.8.4 high-altitude cloud forest on basalt

Biodiversity status: Endangered

Threatened Species: Spectacled Flying Fox, Spotted-tail Quoll, Southern Cassowary, Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Green Ringtail Possum, Herbert River Ringtail Possum, Golden Bowerbird

UPDATE: Thanks to our generous donors, the settlement of the Maalan Cloud Forest property took place on Friday January 12, 2024. 

The Spectacled Flying Fox, Spotted-tail Quoll, Southern Cassowary, Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Green Ringtail Possum, Herbert River Ringtail Possum, and Golden Bowerbird need our help if they are to survive climate change. 

These threatened species are restricted to the cooler parts of the Atherton Tablelands and other higher parts of the Wet Tropics in Far North Queensland, which means they can all be found either on this 83-hectare Maalan Cloud Forest property or at nearby locations of similar altitude (above 800 metres). Securing this important habitat is essential to support their long-term survival.

That’s why we have bought this 83-hectare block - its conservation value as a critical wildlife corridor and refuge is priceless. 

Lemuroid Ringtail Possum

The Spectacled Flying Fox needs urgent assistance

Climate change is increasing the number of days with high temperatures. On January 15, 2019, a record-breaking heatwave in Far North Queensland pushed temperatures to 42 degrees Celsius. This one event is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 Spectacled Flying Foxes, or almost one-third of the species in Australia. 

As the impact of climate change increases, the remaining population of Spectacled Flying Foxes in FNQ will require a refuge to which they can retreat in extreme heat conditions. Through the purchase and restoration of high-altitude cloud forest on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, we are achieving this outcome.

A very significant population of the Spectacled Flying Fox uses a camp in the rainforest adjoining the Maalan Cloud Forest property. The size of the population changes through the year, with reports of over 20,000 bats in the camp over the summer months. This represents one-third of the remaining Spectacled Flying Fox population. 

Climate change impacts mammals adapted to live in the normally stable environment of the cloud forests. As temperatures rise, habitat at higher altitudes becomes an essential refuge. 

Spectacled Flying Fox. Pic by David White.

Without functional connections within fragmented habitat areas, it is feared that the long-term survival of a range of species will be at substantial risk. 

The purchase of Maalan Cloud Forest will enable 83 hectares to be managed as an essential refuge for endemic mammals that have nowhere else to go.

Green Ringtail Possum

A site of immense potential for biodiversity and connectivity

This Maalan Cloud Forest property is key to rainforest connectivity, and will create a vital wildlife corridor. 

Strategically located between Wooroonooran National Park and Maalan National Park, the Maalan Cloud Forest property's value as a corridor for wildlife is immense.

On the property, there are currently 45 hectares of endangered rainforest and 35 hectares of land that were cleared many decades ago. By revegetating this land we will complete a high-priority corridor between Maalan and Wooroonooran national parks. Its protection and restoration will also help buffer the World Heritage Area. 

To restore the cleared land, we will plant 125,000 trees. This expansion of habitat will complete the wildlife corridor and expand the habitat for the existing Spectacled Flying Fox camp.  

Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo

Nature refuge planned for protection of Maalan Cloud Forest 

Our plan is to protect the Maalan Cloud Forest property through its gazettal as a Nature Refuge. The Queensland Government’s Nature Refuge program works with landholders who have an interest in protecting and managing the significant conservation values of their land in perpetuity. A nature refuge is established through a voluntary, binding conservation agreement between the landholder and the Department of Environment and Science on behalf of the Queensland Government. Nature Refuges provide the highest level of protection for land outside of a national park.

Our project partners are South Endeavour Trust, a successful registered non-profit organisation that acquires and manages land for conservation. We successfully partnered with them in 2021 for the acquisition of Oakey Scrub near Cooktown and the Cheelonga Cloud Forest in 2022. 

The Maalan River flows through the property.

Please help to secure these 83 hectares of important habitat on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland for the Spectacled Flying Fox, Spotted-tail Quoll, Southern Cassowary, Lumhotz’s Tree-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Green Ringtail Possum, Herbert River Ringtail Possum, Northern Pygmy Possum, Golden Bowerbird.

Maalan Cloud Forest.

If you have any questions about the purchase and protection of the Maalan Cloud Forest property, contact Kelvin Davies at [email protected] or call during business hours at 0437 423 119.

Thank you for your support of our critically-important rainforest ecosystems. 

PURCHASE OF LOT 34 CAPE TRIBULATION ROAD, DIWAN THE DAINTREE LOWLAND RAINFOREST

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Action: Purchase and protection of Lot 34 Cape Tribulation Road (SP259951)

Area: 3 hectares

Location: Diwan, Queensland

Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), Climbing Pandan (Freycinetia percostata)

Vegetation type: Two vegetation communities exist on the property. Regional Ecosystem 7.3.10a: Mesophyll vine forest. Listed as “Of Concern” under the Vegetation Management Act 1999. And Regional Ecosystem 7.3.17:  Complex mesophyll vine forest. Listed as “Endangered” under the Queensland Vegetation Management Act 1999.

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

Fundraising for this project is now complete. Thank you to everyone who made a donation to achieve this outcome.

Lot 34 Cape Tribulation Road 

Lot 34 Cape Tribulation Road is located at Diwan in the heart of the iconic Daintree Lowland Rainforest. This freehold property was created through a rural residential subdivision in 1982 and it is zoned by the Douglas Shire Council as being suitable for development.

The rainforest and the Threatened species found on the property deserve the same level of protection as the nearby Daintree National Park and World Heritage Area. That’s why we need your help to purchase Lot 34 Cape Tribulation Road, prevent it from being developed for housing and ensure it is managed for conservation.

We have purchased 3 nearby properties and 26 properties in the Daintree lowlands over the last 3 years. Through this, we are preventing the development of individual blocks and reversing the impacts of the subdivision of the Daintree in the 1980s that created 1,136 freehold properties.

Lot 34 in the landscape 

A vegetation survey of Lot 34 Cape Tribulation Road by our ecologist identified 195 species of native plants. See a summary of the survey here.

The Endangered Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) was observed during the survey. There are only 4,400 of these amazing big birds remaining in Australia’s wet tropical rainforest. We also saw an Orange-footed Scrub Fowl (Megapodius reinwardt) by its large incubation mound and nearby, a terrestrial termite mound with an excavated nesting tunnel presumably made by a Buff Breasted Paradise Kingfisher.

The endangered Southern Cassowary 

Threatened Species

Two species found on Lot 34 are listed as Threatened in the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992. 

The Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) is listed as Endangered.  The vegetation for Lot 34 has been categorised as Essential Cassowary habitat. Many species of plant identified on Lot 34 produce food for the Southern Cassowary.

Lot 34 provides “Essential habitat for the Endangered Southern Cassowary”.

The Climbing Pandan (Freycinetia percostata) is listed as Vulnerable. This species restricted mainly to the Daintree lowlands and again on Cape York at Iron Range and overseas in Papua New Guinea. This climbing monocotyledon plant possesses unique leaves which the bases catch water and thus provide habitat for arboreal invertebrates and frogs.

Two other significant Daintree endemic plants occur on Lot 34: The Daintree Foambark (Jagera madida) only occurs in the lowland rainforests between Julatten and Bloomfield. The Cooper Creek Haplostichanthus (Polyalthia xanthocarpa) is an understorey tree less than 3m tall with small yellow fruit in clusters from the trunk and branches. It is restricted to the lowland rainforests of the Daintree Rainforest.

Kelvin Davies with Cooper Creek Haplostichanthus

The acquisition of Lot 34 Cape Tribulation Road prevents its development for housing and helps reverse the negative impacts of the subdivision created in 1982. This will help to fulfil our vision for the conservation of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest which requires the buyback of all undeveloped freehold properties so they can be managed for its exceptional conservation values.

Incubation mound of the Orange-footed Scrub Fowl 

Thank you to the generous donors who funded the purchase and protection of this Daintree Rainforest Property.

You can learn more about our project Land Purchase to Save the Daintree here. 

Please make a donation now to help purchase the next Daintree Rainforest property. 

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.  

Urgent action is required to Save the Cassowary! If we'd taken action sooner the Cassowary wouldn't be on the brink. Now the situation is urgent and we must rapidly restore their rainforest habitat. 

PURCHASE OF LOT 150 CAPE TRIBULATION ROAD, IN THE DAINTREE LOWLAND RAINFOREST

Action: Purchase Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road (RP 738591) 

Area: 1.021 hectares 

Location: Diwan, Queensland

Vegetation type: The majority of Lot 150 contains Regional Ecosystem 7.3.3: Mesophyll vine forest with Archontophoenix alexandrae on poorly drained alluvial plains. This vegetation type is listed as “Of Concern” under the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

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

Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), Climbing Pandan (Freycinetia percostata), Daintree Ryparosa (Ryparosa kurrangii), Gray’s Walnut (Endiandra grayi), Isachne sharpii (no common name),  Noah’s Walnut (Endiandra microneura).

Species of conservation Significance (Endemic or found at the limits of their natural range): Green Dinosaur (Idiospermum australiense), Daintree Cleistanthus (Cleistanthus myrianthus), Millaa Ebony (Diospyros pluviatilis), Cooper Creek Haplostichanthus (Polyalthia xanthocarpa). 

Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road

The Daintree Lowland Rainforest is a living museum and Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road has a significant population of the ancient flowering plant Idiospermum australiense.

This species represents one of the earliest known lineages of flowering plants, dating back 120 million years. They are found in very few locations in north-eastern Queensland (e.g. the Daintree National Park and nearby freehold properties) and only in the very wet parts of the rainforest. 

The Idiospermum has provided justification for the description of the Daintree as the oldest continuously existing rainforest in the world. They have been called the Green Dinosaur and the Daintree - the place where flowers began. They are found in the fossil record going back 120 million years and are of great significance to science and our understanding of the evolution of flowering plants. 

For this reason, Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road has been purchased and will be provided with the highest level of protection, and managed for its exceptional conservation values.  

Seedlings of the Ribbonwood (Idiospermum australiense)

Ribbonwood trees (Idiospermum australiense) have a very limited distribution. Unlike fruits of other rainforest plants, they are not distributed by the Southern Cassowary. 

They have a unique poison, a chemical called idiospermuline contained within the seed. The seeds are so toxic that most animals cannot eat them without being severely poisoned. The seeds are mainly spread through gravity dispersal, the seeds rolling down slopes to find their new home. It has been suggested that the seeds were formerly dispersed by the now-extinct Diprotodon, on the basis that many Australian marsupials are adapted to cope with the toxins in Australian plants.

Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road is a freehold property adjacent to the Daintree National Park. It is located at Diwan and is part of the core Idiospermum habitat in the Daintree. The Idiospermum populations at Diwan is equally significant to populations in the Noah/Oliver Creek valleys.

Leaves of the Ribbonwood (Idiospermum australiense)

The acquisition of Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road will help to fulfil our vision for the conservation of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest which requires the buyback of all undeveloped freehold properties so they can be managed for their exceptional conservation values. Buying this property will allow it to be included in the adjoining Daintree National Park. 

The Daintree Lowland Rainforest in North Queensland is the oldest rainforest on the planet, with an unbroken evolutionary history going back over 120 million years to the first flowering plants. 

“Small areas on the very wet lowlands, especially between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation, harbour plant species which are extremely restricted and uncommon. Many areas of this ecosystem are considered refugial in nature and are local centers of endemism. Many representatives of primitive families of flowering plants are present, including the monotypic family Idiospermaceae. The ecosystem is the habitat for many threatened plant species”.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 

 Fruits of the Ribbonwood (Idiospermum australiense) on Lot 150

Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road is located at Diwan in the heart of the iconic Daintree Lowland Rainforest. It is completely covered by tropical rainforest and there is no evidence of a past clearing. On the property, there are many very large trees reaching 35 to 60 meters tall with impressive buttress roots. The trees are festooned with epiphytes being ferns and orchids with large lianas and other vines cascading from above.

Lot 150 is important in maintaining a vegetated corridor across the landscape as the property abuts a significant and extensive tract of forest from the mangroves to the east containing the biologically rich Cooper Creek - Cow Bay mangrove system and the Thornton Peak mountainous region to the immediate west.   

This region of the Daintree houses cryptic and rare species, some of which were identified growing on Lot 150.

A vegetation survey undertaken in May 2023 identified 164 species of plants including five listed at Threatened species. 

The vegetation on Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road contains two markedly different ecosystems, one that is high diversity well developed luxuriant rainforest growing in better-drained soil while the other is Swamp forest of lower diversity growing in a ponded situation. The entire property is remnant vegetation.

The majority of Lot 150 contains Regional Ecosystem 7.3.3: Mesophyll vine forest with Archontophoenix alexandrae on poorly drained alluvial plains.

This vegetation type is listed as “Of Concern” under the Vegetation Management Act 1999. The Queensland government indicates a pre-clearing amount of 5,000 ha existed with 2,000 ha remaining in 2019. The Queensland government specifically states that this vegetation type has “Special Values” being: “Habitat for threatened plant species include Phlegmariurus dalhousieanus”.

The second vegetation type is Regional Ecosystem 7.11.1: Simple to complex mesophyll to notophyll vine forest on moderately to poorly drained metamorphics (excluding amphibolites) of moderate fertility of the moist and wet lowlands, foothills and uplands.

Regional Ecosystem 7.11.1 is categorised as Essential habitat for the:

• Endangered Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii)
• Spotted-tailed Quoll Northern subspecies (Dasyurus maculatus gracilis)
• Bennett’s tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus)
• a Vine (Dioclea hexandra)
• a Fern (Hymenasplenium wildii)

Of note from Lot 150 were 10 species of native Meliaceae (Mahogany’s), 9 species of native Laurels, 9 species of native Palm and 7 species of native Ficus. Some larger specimens of the ancient Hope’s Cycad (Lepidozamia hopei) were identified on the property and a handful of younger seedlings.

Old-growth trees on Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road

The endangered Southern Cassowary 

Lot 150 Cape Tribulation Road (right of picture) 

Thank you to the generous donors who funded the purchase and protection of this Daintree Rainforest Property.

You can learn more about our project Land Purchase to Save the Daintree here. 

Please make a donation now to help purchase the next Daintree Rainforest property. 

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.  

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)

This project was completed in November 2022. Thank you to the hundreds of generous donors. 

Lot 398 Maple Road 

We purchased 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) so 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. 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. 

An intact canopy of old-growth rainforest trees made 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 make a donation to purchase and protect the next property in the Daintree Lowland 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 make a donation to purchase and protect the next property in the Daintree Lowland 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. 

Please make a donation to purchase and protect the next property in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

Zamia Fern (left) and Hopes Cycad

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

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 make a donation to purchase and protect the next property in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.

PURCHASE OF LOT 204 CEDAR ROAD, IN THE DAINTREE LOWLAND RAINFOREST

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Action: Purchase Lot 204 Cedar Road (RP733653) 

Area: 0.9995 hectares

Location: Cow Bay, Queensland

Vegetation type: Regional Ecosystem 7.3.20e listed as “Of Concern” under the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

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

Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii)

Fundraising update on 27th of February 2024

Target to purchase, protect, and restore this property: $199,900

Amount raised: $33,630

Remaining target: $166,270

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 204 Cedar Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Your donation will help purchase and protect essential Cassowary habitat. Please donate now. 

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Lot 204 Cedar Road at Cow Bay

Lot 204 Cedar Road is zoned by the Douglas Shire Council as suitable for rural residential development, which means all that’s required for clearing and construction to commence is an approved development application. 

That’s why we exchanged a contract of sale and paid a deposit.

Now we must raise the funds to complete the purchase to stop this property being developed for housing.

Fragmentation occurs when forests are reduced in the area through deforestation, road building or other developments, dividing the forest into smaller blocks and creating what is known as the edge effect. The impacts of the edge effect have been thoroughly documented over several decades and show the significant detrimental effects on biodiversity.

With the purchase of this property, we will prevent further fragmentation of the Daintree Rainforest. We will also restore the part of the property damaged by unapproved development by a previous owner. 

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 204 Cedar Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Your donation will help purchase and protect essential Cassowary habitat. Please donate now. 

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Lot 505 Cedar Road and Lot 213 Teak Road were purchased in 2021

Buyback works

The buyback of land for conservation is the only action guaranteed to work. In the last four years we have purchased 13 properties in Cow Bay and 29 in the Daintree Lowlands (between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation). We purchased nearby Lot 505 Cedar Road and Lot 213 Teak Road in 2021.

Lot 204 Cedar Road is located at Cow Bay in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. Buying land here helps us to reverse the impacts of the disastrous 1980s rural residential subdivision. We are focusing our efforts at Cow Bay as scientists have identified this area as providing essential habitat for the endangered southern cassowary.

In recent years, the rate of land sales in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest has escalated. Many people sought a tree change in the wake of COVID-19 and we saw an increase in clearing for housing development.

To directly compete with those that would develop the world's oldest rainforest, we must continue the buyback of land for conservation.

Restoration needed at Lot 204 Cedar Road 

One of the previous owners of Lot 204 Cedar Road created a clearing and set up a bush camp. Once we have purchased this land, the bush camp will be removed and the site revegetated. To purchase, protect and restore the property we need to raise a total of $199,900. The property is 0.9995 hectares (9,995 sqm in size), so the cost is $20 per sqm. This price includes the cost of the land, restoring the vegetation, and removal of a driveway, a structure built for camping, and a garden shed. 

Conservation values

The vegetation on Lot 204 is classed as Regional Ecosystem 7.3.20e, which is listed as “Of Concern” under the Queensland Vegetation Management Act 1999. 

As well as protecting the rainforest on Lot 204, this purchase also ensures connectivity across the landscape. Increased urbanisation around Cow Bay will further disrupt natural processes in the region by fragmenting habitat and creating an edge effect. The core-to-edge ratio of the rainforest patches is integral in maintaining ecologically sound, functioning forests. 

The vegetation on Lot 204 also provides habitat for the endangered southern cassowary and they have recently been seen crossing Cedar Road. There many species of native plants that produce fleshy fruits favoured by cassowaries. 

Lot 204 Cedar Road was offered for sale on the open market and could have been sold to someone wishing to develop the property. That's why we took action and exchanged a contract of sale and paid a deposit.

Please, donate now and help purchase Lot 204 Cedar Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Your donation will help purchase and protect essential Cassowary habitat. Please donate now. 

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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 was effective as of Friday November 26, 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.

STRONGER TOGETHER

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

Please make a donation now to help purchase the next Daintree Rainforest property. 

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. 

PURCHASE OF CHEELONGA ON THE ATHERTON TABLELANDS

PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Action: Purchase of Cheelonga Cloud Forest and protection through addition to the Misty Mountain Nature Refuge

Area: 18 hectares

Location: Millaa Millaa, Queensland

Vegetation type: Regional Ecosystem 7.8.4 high altitude cloud forest on basalt

Threatened Species: Cassowary, Lumhotz’s Tree-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Green Ringtail Possum, Northern Pygmy Possum, Golden Bowerbird

Fundraising for this project is now complete. Thank you to everyone who made a donation to achieve this outcome. 

The purchase of Cheelonga has protected 18 hectares of high-altitude Cloud Forest and provides an essential refuge for endemic mammals that have nowhere else to go. 

Climate Change poses a threat to a range of endemic cooler climate Wet Tropics species. Without functional connections within fragmented habitat areas, it is feared that the long-term survival of a range of species will be at substantial risk. 

The Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo and the Lemuroid and Green Ringtail Possums are restricted to the cooler parts of the Atherton Tablelands and other higher areas of the Wet Tropics. Securing this important habitat is essential to support their long-term survival.

Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroo, Green Ringtail Possum.

One impact of Climate Change is the increasing number of days with high temperatures. On the 15th of January 2019, a record-breaking heatwave in Far North Queensland pushed temperatures to 42 degrees Celcius. This one event is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying foxes, or almost one-third of the species in Australia. Climate Change impacts on bats are highly visible as they often roost near urban areas and heat-stressed animals come to or fall to the ground, however, these extreme events also impact mammals adapted to live in the normally stable environment of the could forests. 

Tree ferns thrive in the cloud forest. 

Donations to this project are being used to achieve the purchase of land, a boundary adjustment (of Lot 303 NR4636), new fencing, and management of the process to include the land in the Misty Mountain Nature Refuge. As these outcomes are achieved we will make further announcements. 

The Cheelonga property will be protected through its inclusion in the Misty Mountain Nature Refuge. A declaration of a Nature Refuge requires gazettal through an act of the Queensland Parliament and provides the highest level of protection for land outside of a national park. 

Lumholtz Tree-kangaroo on the Cheelonga Cloud Forest property.

A key feature of the block is that it includes a significant section of the creek that starts at a spring on Misty Mountain and flows through to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The property is strategically located between the Malaan National Park and Herberton Range National Park. In addition, the block directly abuts the World Heritage Area. Besides its strategic corridor value also helps buffer the World Heritage Area.

The key species at Cheelonga Cloud Forest are the Southern Cassowary, Lumhotz’s Tree-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Green Ringtail Possum, Northern Pygmy Possum, and Golden Bowerbird.

Acquisition of the property will complete the Misty Mountain corridor.

Our project partners are South Endeavour Trust, a successful registered nonprofit organisation that acquires and manages land for conservation. We successfully partnered with them in 2021 for the acquisition of Oakey Scrub near Cooktown. They own and manage the Misty Mountain Nature Refuge which has been created through the acquisition of two other properties in the past decade.  

Purchasing Cheelonga will expand the Misty Mountain Nature Refuge.

If you have any questions about the purchase and protection of Cheelonga Cloud Forest contact Kelvin Davies at [email protected] or call during business hours at 0437 423 119.