Restore Australia’s Forest after the Wildfires

Dear Donors,

Our project, Restore Australia's Forests After the Wildfires, has some very, VERY exciting news!! So exciting--we even changed our main project picture. Our project has seen our mission evolve from a rescue and recovery operation after the Black Saturday and other Wildfires of Jan/Feb 2009 to a rehabilitate and restore operation. In some cases in fact, even beyond merely restoring the forests by designing and planting natural defenses and buffer zones in and around the forests so wildfires like the record breaking ones last year don't sweep in and burn as fast as before. This is a very important fact because in a minute, the Australian Rainforest Foundation is going to introduce you to our 2nd project beneficiary, Mr. and Mrs. Alan and Stella Reid of Wildhaven outside of Melbourne, Victoria where the Black Saturday Wildfire stormed in like a tornado on the sun.

Wildhaven (at St. Andrews) is a wildlife shelter in the Australian state of Victoria and is located s...

Hello Mates,

We at the Australian Rainforest Foundation are happy to be reporting back to you. The field report is below. I would like to announce that on 16 June (next Wednesday), GlobalGiving is having a Matching Day for all donations!! Please, if you are thinking about possibly donating to our project, the 16th would be a great day to do it. Also, if any of you work for a company that offers a Gift Match Program and/or a Charitable Contribution Program, donations via your employer-sponsored benefit would double (and even sometimes triple) the giving power. The ARF is also working on setting up a promotion fit for companies where the ARF would give away trips for two to Australia. Trips would include getting your hands dirty and helping us rehabilitate the rainforest, wildlife treks and of course great sightseeing of the Daintree rainforest, Great Barrier Reef and much, much more. Please contact Paul Medici, Manager of American Operations, for more details. We would love to see...

Hi folks,

We will be posting our next field report real soon. My name is Paul Medici and I am the Manager of American Operations for the Australian Rainforest Foundation. Great to be writing to you all. I am going to be in New York City this summer (looks like middle July) and I wanted to put on a little donor appreciation lunch for everyone in the area that would like to meet. I think this would be a great way to just say hi, talk openly about operations and thank all of you for all you have done. I will also have some information, reports and Australian Rainforest Foundation (ARF) merchandise on hand to give out.

If you are interested in learning more about this lunch in the city this coming July, please send me an email at medicipj2@yahoo.com. Thank you and the ARF looks forwarding to updating all of you on project news soon.

Cheers,

Paul

Hello Mates—

We at the Australian Rainforest Foundation hope all of you had a great Holiday Season. Exciting news on the Restore Australia’s Forest after the Wildfires front! After an extensive vetting process, the completion of scientific reports and land surveys, the Australian Rainforest Foundation (ARF) has begun the ground operations in a very special place that we know you will be very proud to be apart of.

The driving mission is forest and habitat restoration including protection, extending and recovery of bushfire affected areas. Holding true to our mission, we have chosen a property at the Balook area in the Strzelecki Ranges approximately 200 km south east of Melbourne. The owner of the property, Mr. Richard Appleton, is a true conservationist and the property is composed of 42 hectors, in which 19 hectors are fully protected with conservation easements and 21 hectors with a modified easement. The number one reason why the Australian Rainforest Foundation chose this...

Dear Mates,

Thank you for your continued support of the Australian Rainforest Foundation. We wanted to let you know about an exciting opportunity that we are participating in through our partners, GlobalGiving.

When a donation is made to our project, Restore Australia's Forests after the Wildfire--www.globalgiving.com/2555--on GlobalGiving between November 10 and December 1, GlobalGiving will match that donation at 30%, 40% or 50%. And if we raise the most money or get the most donations, we are eligible for bonus awards up to $10,000. Matching funds are limited, so act quickly.

You can help us raise more money and earn the GlobalGiving prize money by spreading the word!

1) Pass along this email to your friends and families and ask them to tell others.

2) If you are planning to make a donation this year to the Australian Rainforest Foundation, please do so by going to our project on GlobalGiving--www.globalgiving.com/2555.

Thank you very much mates and I hope you ha...

Hello Mates,

My name is Graeme Miller and I am the Victorian Consultant and Team Leader for the Australian Rainforest Foundation in this part of the country. My job is to make sure your incredible generosity and amazing donations keep going to great use down here where the Black Saturday fires of earlier this year, have left an indelible mark in the forests and in the population's mind.

But out of the damage and destruction came hope and life again in many parts of the damaged bio-rich ecosystems in National Parks and on private reserves where citizens registered the conservation protection status. Birds, koalas, wombats and more have found their way back to some of these areas, and these are the areas where we are focusing our efforts. The pictures I have enclosed with this report show how life is naturally regenerating back to some degree.

Now, with the help of government agencies and other conservation groups, the Australian Rainforest Foundation is assessing the regener...

Dear friends,

So much has happened since we last updated you, we will be sending you another project update in the next 10-14 days. First of all, on behalf of the Australian Rainforest Foundation, we would like to thank each and every one of you for helping us answer the call and commit to helping rehabilitate key conservation areas that were damaged and or destroyed by the 2009 Wildfires. These wildfires hit Australia with its worst natural disaster in recorded history. Over 2,000 acres of land and forest with special conservation easements placed on them were damaged which took an enormous toll on some of Australia’s most beloved natural icons such as the koala, wombat, cockatoo and kangaroo. But thanks to all of you, real help is on the way.

After the wildfires ended, a long and methodical inquiry commenced by the Victorian Royal Commission (as well as other local inquiries) that looked into the causes of the fires, system of communication warning, evacuation plans and mo...

Hi Mates,

Project Leader Roger Phillips here. I have some great news to share with you!

If you donate now to help Restore Australia’s Forest after the Wildfires, your generous gift will be matched. That's right! In honor of Earth Day 2009, GlobalGiving has offered to match all donations at 50% (up to $5,000 per individual). The match will be available from April 4 – April 28 or until $25,000 in matching funds have been depleted.

In addition to matching funds, we are also competing for prizes! The three projects receiving the greatest number of donations will receive prizes of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000, respectively. Even if matching funds are depleted, the challenge portion of the campaign will continue until April 28th.

We need to act fast! By donating now through GlobalGiving, you will be supporting our project to help Restore Australia’s Forest after the Wildfires. We appreciate your generous support to date and we look forward to updating you again very soon on...