A lot has happened in the world since we last wrote to you, and for my part, one way that I’ve been able to stay “sane” is to keep doing what we’ve always done: protect and restore rainforest with the help of our growing community. And for our part, we are still getting our hands dirty and doing what we do best – while keeping all our staff, supporters and volunteers safe as our highest priority. I wanted to share some good news with you in a little update from the last few weeks here at Rainforest Rescue. I hope you are happy to see that, through the disruption, good things are happening in the Daintree Rainforest.
Musky Rat Kangaroo. © Dean Jewell
Next Rescue Identified
This past week our CEO, Branden Barber, secured a new property for rescue in the Cape Kimberley wildlife corridor. We are on a roll in this area! This at-risk land has extremely high conservation value, borders the National Park and is grouped with other Rainforest Rescue protected properties.
This rescue builds on the others and increases protection for a much larger wildlife corridor, ensuring greater connectivity and safe habitat for hundreds of rainforest plants and animals alike. Sound familiar? That’s because our last rescue was also in this corridor and the one before that. For Rainforest Rescue it is vitally important to rescue, protect and grow these wildlife corridors. We know the Cape Kimberley Wildlife Corridor well, having rescued six properties here already. And because of the connectivity to the National Park and World Heritage Area, and with a lack of protection on remaining properties in this corridor area, this next property is high priority for rescue and protection.
So many rare, precious, endangered and vulnerable flora and fauna call the Cape Kimberley corridor their home, including this Musky Rat Kangaroo.
Volunteers at the recent Community Planting Day at the NightWings Land
Community Tree Planting Event
Knowing that the annual Tree Planting event was not going ahead in May, the team facilitated a smaller Community Tree Planting Day a few weeks ago. While we weren’t able to bring as many volunteers together as the larger annual event, we were able to put over 1,000 new trees in the ground at the NightWings property! Tens of thousands of trees have been planted there to regenerate this once stripped sugar cane field – and all with your support. The crew of twenty volunteers did a great job in just a few hours. Hooray!
Our Land Manager, Grant Morrison, says that the seedlings at NightWings are “growing extremely well”. There is lots of activity here too, with so many lizard and snake species being seen along with many, many insects. We’re so grateful for the insects as we all know that they play an essential role in plant reproduction and soil fertility. There have also been lots of butterflies of all kinds fluttering about, including the Cairns Birdwing (Melicope rubra/ Melicope elleryana) and the bright blue Ulysses butterfly (Aristolochia acuminate), who are attracted to the flowering trees which they pollinate, playing their important role throughout this emerging rainforest, helping it grow.
Throughout 2020 we are planning to have more Community Tree Planting Days, so we will be sure to promote these events through our social media and email. Stay tuned!
The Rainforest Rescue crew, from Sydney to our Mullumbimby HQ on up to the Native Daintree Nursery and the Daintree itself, are so incredibly grateful for your support Green Box Eco Shop.
We know this is an extremely challenging time for everyone and we hope your part in this Rainforest Rescue adventure is a meaningful touchstone for you and the difference you make. For us at Rainforest Rescue, we continue to be touched every day by the generosity and care for the work that we do – that YOU do – in protecting the unprotected Daintree lowland rainforest. This is just some of the good going on in the world right now, and you are an integral part of it. Our warmest thanks and our warmest to you and yours.