The organisation has released their 2008/9 Plant a Rainforest Project report that documents the planting of over 10,000 trees in the Daintree rainforest this year. David Cook says: “This is four times the number we planted last year. Individual people from around the world that love the Daintree and want to see cleared land restored have sponsored the trees along with significant local support from the North Queensland Wildlife Trust”.

The trees were planted in six different properties mostly in the Cow Bay area including properties on Silkwood Road, Buchanan Creek Road., Figtree Road, Cape Tribulation Road., Candlenut Road and Iron Bark Road. Four of these propertieswere planted under a co-operative management agreement with the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) of the Department of Environment and Resource Management. The remaining two were private properties where the trees will be protected forever under law.

“It’s been great working with QPWS staff” said Mr. Cook. “They did the essential clearing of weeds on their properties prior to planting. We have to ensure the weeds are adequately controlled until the young trees can look after themselves – that’s expected to take about two years with Rainforest Rescue managing the maintenance program.”

The trees are a wide mix of local rainforest species of Daintree stock. “We are grateful to Cairns Regional Council for the supply of 3,000 trees from the Mossman Nursery and to the Daintree Cassowary Care Group who supplied 2,000. The remaining 5,000 were bought from Yuruga Nursery that we had contracted to collect seed in the Daintree and grow the trees.

The owner a private properties where Rainforest Rescue planted over 1,500 trees, Robert “Fritzy” Beckers, of Ironbark Road, a retired Petty Officer marine technician with the Royal Australian Navy says: “I’m stoked! My place was overgrown with weeds and not much else. I identified eight different species from a weed book I borrowed but it was really too hard for me get them under control. Now I can just sit back and watch the trees grow. They were planted over the week of my 50th birthday so there was a double reason to celebrate as it didn’t cost me a cent”. Rainforest Rescue used a mix of paid staff and the assistance of Conservation Volunteers Australia to get the trees planted.

Rainforest Rescue plans to continue planting trees in the Daintree and wishes to hear from landowners who are interested in receiving help to plant 500 or more trees on their property. To access the criteria they are requested to contact David Cook on 4098 7933 or email david@rainforestrescue.org.au.

The sweat! The sun! The bugs! But the trees, my goodness, the trees! Tree planting isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.

This June, my partner Jon and I had the opportunity to do some re-generation work in the Daintree for Rainforest Rescue. We worked alongside David Cook, the Daintree Conservation Project Officer (a lovely man), as well as Conservation Volunteers Australia (a diverse group of eager planters) as we planted 4,000 trees over two weeks. We planted two sites: one of which was a residential property that had been bought back by the Queensland Government; the other site was a privately owned and inhabited site that was mostly covered in Guinea Grass, a weed which the owner was more than happy to replace with rainforest trees.

There were many different native species of trees that we planted on each property, inter-mingling them all to try and re-create the biodiversity already found in untouched areas of the Daintree. The trees were just seedlings, “babies” as David Cook calls them, and each one needed to be planted with care. The gentler you are with the trees the more likely they are to survive, so we did our best to nurture the seedlings as they were introduced to their new homes.

The trees may be small when they start out, but they do grow quickly in the tropical climate. We visited sites that Rainforest Rescue planted over a year ago, and the progress is amazing. The best part is: the trees aren’t going anywhere. Ever. I only wish I could live for a few hundred years so I could see these re-generated areas turn into the lush rainforest areas that surround them; filled with all kinds of wildlife. On one of the sites we were lucky enough to see a male cassowary and his two babies one morning as they poked around the newly planted trees finding fallen cassowary plums to munch on. If I come back as a cassowary in my next life, I know I will most definitely make my home amongst some of the trees that we’ve planted.

As a couple of city folk who walked into the Plant a Rainforest Project without too much tree experience, we feel really proud and excited about what we were able to accomplish in two weeks. The entire project is so simple and effective and it’s run by a great group of dedicated and passionate people. Time and money raised by Rainforest Rescue is directly translated into putting trees in the ground—ground that really needs trees. It doesn’t get much more simple than that.