Lot 46 Cape Tribulation Road is in the heart of the Daintree lowlands rainforest (in far northern Australia) and is an incredibly special piece of land. It provides habitat for 19 endangered, threatened and vulnerable species. We have a chance to create a Nature Conservation Reserve on Lot 46 and protect it into perpetuity. By turning it into a permanently protected Reserve we will be changing not only its future, but the biodiversity of the area.
Every once in a while an opportunity comes along that cannot be ignored, that must be acted upon immediately for the future of the rainforest. Rainforest Rescue did something we have never done before; we secured a bank loan to urgently save Lot 46. Now we must repay the loan to be able to protect the property into perpetuity and create a Nature Conservation Reserve. Until the Loan is repaid we can't create a Reserve and permanently protect the rainforest.
When we purchased Lot 46 the future of the rainforest on and near it was forever changed; invasive species (including oil palms) were proliferating on the property and floating down the creek to grow in the mangroves. We estimated 93,000 trees would be established. Around 37,000 to be planted and, as weeds were removed, another 56,000 would naturally regenerate. All trees would have local provenance and be grown in our Daintree rainforest plant nursery from seeds we collected on our land.
Lot 46 is in the heart of the Daintree lowlands rainforest and is an incredibly special piece of land. It is a small but vital piece of rainforest with ancient connections to Gondwana. By turning it into a permanently protected Nature Conservation Reserve we will be changing not only its future, but the biodiversity of the area. Surveys of the rainforest on and adjoining Lot 46 have recorded 14 rare, three endangered and two vulnerable species. These species will now have a habitat corridor.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
