Thank you. Together we’re working to cut the Red Tape
Stand with us as we challenge red tape and restore land that’s been degraded for more than a century.
Your generosity will help to defend Nature. Not just in courtrooms or council meetings, but in the soil, with seedlings, with trees and on the land.
Nature Is Not a Commodity
We’ve all seen it: A mountain traded for a mine. A forest turned into toilet paper. A wild valley bulldozed for a resort. A rainforest makes way for sugarcane. The list is long. Sadly, it grows daily.
Too often humanity’s abusive and extractive regard of Nature means that the ‘profits’ and short-term gains come at a very steep cost to biodiversity, climate, and local communities. The land we fight to protect and restore is treated like property, not as the living ecosystem it truly is.
We believe there is and must be another way.
You have helped us with a very special and rather unusual request; one where we’re not asking for your help to protect more precious rainforest. It is to help us navigate the unexpected operational intricacies we’ve uncovered— challenges that only occur when you are ‘breaking new ground’ for Nature.
This restoration journey is demanding more from us than we ever expected: more time, more due diligence, more determination, more rigour. It challenged us in ways we didn’t foresee, and it’s even taken our closest allies by surprise.
But we believe these challenges are shaping a better outcome for Nature.
When we worked with supporters like you to purchase 110 Cape Tribulation Road, we reclaimed land once vegetated by a mixture of endangered vine, eucalyptus and melaleuca forest ecosystems—rare and important lowland ecosystems, now almost entirely lost to agriculture.
In fact, it is estimated that around 80% of these ecosystems have already been stripped and cultivated and restoring it is critical.
But even as we work towards planting 150,000 trees per year, we’re now facing an unexpected challenge.
The Challenge: Red Tape Is Slowing Restoration
Douglas Shire Council’s 2018 Planning Scheme states that restored rainforest, which is defined as a ‘permanent plantation’, is an inconsistent use of Rural zoned land.
As a result, we are having to submit a very detailed impact assessable development application to the Douglas Shire Council Planning Team for the restoration of 110 Cape Tribulation Road. Despite our previous successes, outdated council zoning laws now threaten to block our progress.
This requirement and the volume of work associated with the impact assessable development application (DA) process was a very big surprise to us considering the land at 110 Cape Tribulation Road has not been farmed for ten years. We are working with other land holders and taking this opportunity to include a number of other properties in this DA at the same time to expand our restoration area around a Nationally significant Oxbow Wetland at the gateway to the Daintree.
What we want—what you want—is for the rainforest we grow to be a ‘permanent plantation.’ As we’ve also been restoring ‘NightWings’ for almost ten years, the red tape requirements for 110 Cape Tribulation Road are totally unexpected.
Despite this, there is hope.
Recently, local councillors visited our nursery. What was meant to be a one-hour meeting turned into three. They planted trees, asked questions, and one of them said:
“This just makes sense.”
Now, we need to bring the rest of the council—and the planning department—along with us.
Working together to ‘Break new ground’ for Nature
We’re taking action—working with planners, policy experts, and legal advisors to challenge these outdated rules. Thanks to your support, we will:
- Complete and submit a detailed development application
- Advocate for policy change that supports restoration
- Educate decision-makers on the urgency of biodiversity recovery
- Continue planting trees and restoring 110 Cape Tribulation Road—and more
June 2025: Unexpected expense budget
Outlined below is a listing of unexpected operational costs relating to our planned natural habitat restoration of former agriculture land in the far North Queensland region.
| Item Description | Cost (ex- GST) |
Impact of these services |
|---|---|---|
| Good Quality Agricultural Land Assessment (GQAL) | $3,960 | Confirms specified agricultural land is poor quality—to enable area to be restored as habitat rather than used for agricultural purposes. Is key to the Development Application. |
|
Impact Assessable Development Application (DA) External Planning Consultant |
$16,450 | Proposes and enables land use changes in line with the Douglas Shire Council Planning Scheme for properties, allowing Rainforest Rescue projects to proceed with restoration of former agricultural land. This complex application process can become very costly if multiple re-applications are required. |
| Internal RR Costs for DA | $17,350 | Allows Rainforest Rescue to assist with the DA process to achieve restoration on an unprecedented scale within the Douglas Shire. |
| Development Application Fees for Douglas Shire Council | $10,000 | Estimate of associated fees for Rainforest Rescue to employ legal consultants to work with Douglas Shire Council to ‘break new ground’—implementing a revised Planning Scheme that will benefit native wildlife and natural habitats. |
| Carbon & Biodiversity Consultant Costs | $18,850 | Helps to build a business case for landowners to realise the value of Nature Positive use of their land and to work in partnership with Rainforest Rescue to support restoration and conservation of natural habitat. |
| Legal Costs for Planning Scheme Change Development | $25,000 | Estimate of associated fees for Rainforest Rescue to employ legal consultants to work with Douglas Shire Council to ‘break new ground’—implementing a revised Planning Scheme that will benefit native wildlife and natural habitats. |
| Communications and Stakeholder Consultation costs | $18,150 | Allows Rainforest Rescue to collaborate with local community and local landowners so they can realise alternate ways to use their land that is economically and ecologically beneficial. |
| Nursery Team operations funding to propagate seedlings for the restoration of the Gateway Project at 110 Cape Tribulation Road, an initial 14 hectares has been opened up through work with the Council | $75,000 | Provides Rainforest Rescue with the capital to continue scaling its Nursery operations to tackle the largest restoration project in its history. |
| Land Management Team operations funding for the restoration of the Gateway Project at 110 Cape Tribulation Road, an initial 14 hectares has been opened up through work with the Council | $60,000 | Provides Rainforest Rescue with the capital to continue scaling its restoration operations to tackle the largest Restoration project in its history. |
Restoring Rainforests in Action
Rainforest Recovery Is Real—and It’s Working
At Rainforest Rescue, we’re turning degraded and unproductive agricultural fields back into thriving rainforests. Much like yourself, the Land Management Team care deeply about the natural environment. Their passion is evident in the actions they take to ensure restoration of rainforest habitat is a thriving success. We’ve already transformed many hectares of exhausted farmland by:
- Working towards planting 150,000 native trees each year
- Restoring rare and endangered ecosystems in the Daintree
- Creating local jobs and working with regional conservation partners
- Helping rainforest canopy return in just a few years
- Our 10-year NightWings Project proves it can be done: degraded land can become rainforest again.
This Is a Story of Hope—And You’re at the Heart of It
This isn’t a story of paradise lost. It’s a story of paradise being brought back—one tree, one wetland, one restored valley at a time. This is a story of hope and optimism, of ‘breaking new ground’ for Nature with the local authorities, and it’s a story with you at the heart of it.
Your support today will help us:
- Restore lowland rainforest and adjacent wetland habitat
- Create more green jobs in the local community
- Strengthen Indigenous partnerships
- Reduce sediment and pollutant runoff that threatens the Great Barrier Reef
- Launch a pilot biodiversity credit project
- Guide and adjust policy that currently slows down climate action
The climate crisis can’t wait. Neither can biodiversity’s recovery. Let’s protect what’s left—and bring back what’s been lost.
Your Support Makes Climate and Biodiversity Action Happen.
Thank You for Standing With Us.
All gifts above $2 AUD are tax-deductible.
PROTECTED AREAS
It’s in our nature to protect. With the help of Rainforest Rescuers – people like you – we are significantly protecting pristine habitat for Nature and achieving strong wins for biodiversity. Visit our Protection Portfolio page for a full list of properties protected by Rainforest Rescue since 1999.
