Richmond Birdwing Butterflies Doing Their Bit for the Future of Their Species

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly Ornithoptera richmondia is one of the largest and most beautiful native butterflies in Australia. The female has an impressive wingspan of up to 15 centimetres, the male has brilliant green and black wings and bright red splash on its thorax.

They live in subtropical rainforest where their larval host plants grow. But this rainforest habitat has been extensively cleared, with less than 1% remaining. As a result, the butterfly is struggling to survive.

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly is threatened by climate change, loss of habitat, and a rogue vine that poisons the larvae. In addition, its larval host plant, the Birdwing Vine, has become extinct from two-thirds of its original range, threatening the butterfly further.

In a concerted effort to bring back the Birdwing Butterfly, CSIRO have funded the planting of the Birdwing Vine in Grafton; and the Richmond Birdwing Conservation Network and concerned gardeners have been planting the Vine in Queensland.

Wild Birdwing Vine Climbing Up and Around a Ficus

In our local surrounds, Rainforest Rescue has launched a new project to create a local population of the Birdwing Vine to encourage the return of the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly to this region. To do this, we have partnered with butterfly experts from the Richmond Birdwing Conservation Network. Together we are putting on a Community Workshop on Sunday 13 March at Byron Community College in Mullumbimby.

Butterfly experts will teach you about the fascinating life history of the beautiful Birdwing butterfly; introduce you to the Birdwing Vine and rogue look-alike plants; show you how to grow Birdwing vines for gardens and in revegetation; and teach how to record and map butterfly habitats and sightings. The workshop includes free morning tea and a light lunch, a comprehensive information booklet, and a Birdwing Vine to get you started.

The workshop will be held at the Byron Community College (corner of Gordon and Burringbar Streets, Mullumbimby) on Sunday 13 March, from 9am – 4pm. There is a $10 booking fee. Bookings are essential, please call the college on 02 6684 3374.

The vision of Rainforest Rescue is to establish many hundreds of Birdwing Vines in northern New South Wales to provide a food source for the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly’s larvae and ensure the return of the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly to this area.

We hope to see you at the Birdwing Workshop on Sunday 13 March.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A property formerly owned by Christopher Skase is now in the hands of Rainforest Rescue. The not for profit organisation has purchased the property in the Daintree rainforest in Far North Queensland to conserve and restore the tropical rainforest.

Between 1971 and 1983, a commercial plantation of oil palms was cultivated on part of the land. In 1980, the infamous entrepreneur Christopher Skase purchased the property and then removed most of the oil palms to Port Douglas for use in his Sheraton Mirage Resort, as well as lining the main entry avenue to the town.

Rainforest Rescue purchased this block, which is their 13^th property to date in the Daintree rainforest, through its Daintree Buy Back and Protect Forever Project.

“The land is now protected from development and we aim to fully restore the rainforest,” said Rainforest Rescue CEO, Kelvin Davies.

“We have named this property the Cassowary Conservation Reserve, to recognise the existence on the property of essential habitat for the endangered Cassowary”, he said.

“It’s been estimated that as few as 1,000 Cassowaries remain in all of Australia and the Daintree offers important habitat that must be protected and restored”, said Mr. Davies.

The Cassowary Conservation Reserve is Rainforest Rescue’s largest acquisition to date at 27.66 hectares and is being fully funded by individual donors and business supporters.

Rainforest Rescue chose to purchase and protect this specific property as it is part of the Coopers Creek precinct, one of the three highest priority precincts on the Daintree Lowlands for the conservation of endemic species. The vegetation is of high conservation value, containing endangered regional ecosystems. In addition, the Cassowary Conservation Reserve adjoins the Daintree National Park/World Heritage Area, effectively increasing the protected area available as habitat for endangered flora and fauna.

By purchasing the property, Rainforest Rescue has removed the potential for further development. However, in the 1960′s, it was partly cleared and some development for agriculture has occurred. Commercial crops of bananas and pineapples, as well as grazing by cattle have been carried out on the land and a number of oil palms persist.

Oil palms are an introduced species that have been identified as a potential environmental weed and the seed source of palms found in mangroves downstream in the World Heritage Area. Rainforest Rescue has therefore prioritised removing the remaining oil palms and other weeds from the property.

Rainforest Rescue is already working to replant the cleared area. The trees planted are local rainforest species, propagated in Rainforest Rescue’s Daintree rainforest plant nursery from seeds collected from the Daintree rainforest.

Rainforest Rescue is committed to protecting rainforests forever and is seeking funds for the purchase and protection of its next Daintree property. To make a tax-deductible donation, visit www.rainforestrescue.org.au, or phone 1300 763 611.

Ends……..

CONTACT: Kelvin Davies, Rainforest Rescue CEO

Ph: (02) 6684 4360 Mob: 0427 662 913

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.