On the 24^th of November, we set out to raise the funds to buy Lot 390 Maple Road in Cow Bay in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of people in Australia and around the world today we reached our goal of raising $25,000!

We have an opportunity to buy a Daintree Rainforest property covered in beautiful Fan Palms for only $25,000. Lot 305 Cypress Road, Cow Bay is 1 ha in size and is covered by tropical rainforest. Buying and protecting this property will be a fantastic outcome for conservation as it connects to the Daintree National Park, is in pristine condition and provides vital habitat for the Endangered Southern Cassowary.

We Are Explorers is teaming up with Rainforest 4 Foundation to raise $25,000, purchase a block of land in the Daintree Rainforest, return it to the Daintree National Park and protect it forever. But what’s the Daintree actually like? And what can you do there? We sent Kate up north to find out. 

We’ve provided answers to the most frequently asked questions on the purchase and protection of Lot 305 Cypress Road in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest.  

We Are Explorers is crowdfunding $25,000 to help us purchase and protect one hectare of Daintree Lowland Rainforest. To get things started Kate Stevens from We Are Explorers headed up to see the property with Kelvin Davies and to meet the Traditional Owners, hang out with cassowaries, capture some shots and set to work building out the campaign. Now the countdown to the launch has begun!

Incredible Biodiversity at Lot 3 Thornton Peak Drive revealed as ecological survey identifies 230 species of plants. 

Help save Lot 3 in the Daintree Rainforest for only $75,000

Please donate now. A donation of $25 will purchase and protect five sqm of the Daintree Rainforest. 

We’ve provided answers to the most frequently asked questions on the purchase and protection of Lot 3 Thornton Peak Drive in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. 

On the 30^th of May, we set out to buy Lot 107 Buchanan Creek Road in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of people in Australia and a few from New Zealand, England, Canada, and the USA, we reached our goal of raising $25,000!! 

Project Snapshot

Location: Queensland, Australia
Action: Purchase of Lot 124 Quandong Road, Cow Bay, Daintree Lowland Rainforest
Area: 1 hectare

Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary  
Habitat: Lowland tropical rainforest classified as regional ecosystem 7.11.1a Mesophyll vine forest

Status update on the fundraising to buy Lot 124 Quandong Road, Cow Bay. 19th of January 2020. 

We have an opportunity to buy a Daintree Rainforest property for only $25,000.

The property was advertised online for $50,000. We made a lower offer and the owner of the property accepted as they needed a quick sale. We’ve now signed a contract of sale and have the challenge to raise $25,000 by the 23^rd of February to enable settlement on the purchase in early March 2020.

Lot 124 Quandong Road, Cow Bay is 1 ha in size and is covered by tropical rainforest. Buying and protecting this property will be a fantastic outcome for conservation as it connects to the Daintree National Park, is in pristine condition and is a vital habitat for the Endangered Southern Cassowary.

Please, will you help purchase and protect Lot 124 Quandong Road in the Daintree Rainforest. Every $2.50 you donate will save one square metre of the Daintree. If you donate $25 you will save ten square meters of essential Cassowary habitat! A donation of $50 will save 20 square meters and $100 will save forty square meters of the World Heritage value Daintree Rainforest.

Lot 124 Quandong Road in the Daintree Rainforest

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.

The Daintree Lowland Rainforest is one of the wettest places in Australia and has remained undisturbed by fires for 120 million years. In the first ten days of January 2020 is has had 347 mm of rain.

In the 1980’s the Queensland government approved an 1,100-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 purchase of these properties and adding them to the Daintree National Park provides a fantastic outcome for wildlife conservation.

Please, make a donation now to help purchase and protect Lot 124 Quandong Road and add it to the Daintree National Park. Each $25 raised will purchase and protect ten sqm of the Lowland Daintree Rainforest.  

Lot 124 Quandong Road is located in Cow Bay. Buying land in this location helps us to reverse the impacts of the disastrous 1980’s rural residential subdivision. We are focusing our efforts on Cow Bay as scientists have identified this area as being the highest priority for conservation. It has some of the highest levels of biodiversity and the highest densities of Cassowaries in Australia. Please, will you make a tax-deductible donation now to save essential habitat for the endangered Cassowary.

I began buying land in the Daintree Rainforest for conservation in 1999. With the support of people like yourself, I’ve contributed to the purchase of 40 properties. We've raised funds to purchase four properties sic=nce June 2109 so I know we can do this and all that’s needed is your support. 

Through our project Land Purchase to Save the Daintree, we are buying land and adding properties to the Daintree National Park and World Heritage Area. With your help, we will safeguard Cassowaries in this critical habitat. Please take action today and help us Save the Cassowary through the purchase of Lot 124 Quandong Road.

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 390 Maple Road please email me at kelvin@Rainforest4.org or call me on 0437 423 119. Or check out our Lot 124 in the Daintree FAQ page.

Thank you to HalfCut

The nonprofit organisation HalfCut is getting behind the campaign to purchase Lot 124 Quandong Raod and add it to the Daintree National Park. Thanks to Jimmy and Jess and all the HalfCut supporters for their help. 

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.

In the 1980’s the Queensland government approved an 1,100-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 buyback 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. To continue this important work, we are working to purchase freehold land in Cow Bay that will then be incorporated into the Daintree National Park. We are focusing our efforts on Cow Bay as it has some of the highest levels of biodiversity and the highest densities of Cassowaries in Australia.

Please make a donation now online.

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.

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 make a donation now online.

Solution

We have identified this property at Lot 124 Quandong Road, Cow Bay in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest where the owner will sell it for only $25,000.

We are working to purchase and transfer ownership of land the Rainforest 4 Foundation. 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 donate now. A donation of $25 will purchase and protect ten sqm of the Daintree Rainforest.