Environmental Initiative

Replanting the Daintree - tree by tree

Rainforest Rescue had its first planting day on 17 February 2008 and it was a great success. The Plant a Rainforest Day, conducted north of the Daintree River, had over 50 volunteers planting over 850 young rainforest trees in less than two hours.

The planting was held on private land on Cape Tribulation Road. The owners Colton Perna and his partner Kerry Greene are taking out a covenant with the Environment Protection Agency to protect the planted trees forever and provide a wildlife corridor, particularly for Cassowaries.

"It was just a patch of cleared but disused land covered by old grass and some weeds. I have seen Cassowaries crossing it in the dry season to reach the swampy forest in the south of my property," said Colton Perna.

Project Officer for Rainforest Rescue, David Cook, who is based in the Daintree, said: "In view of the rain we had over the weekend, the public response was phenomenal. It is great to discover there is this level of support for tree planting in the Daintree Lowlands. If we had been prepared for a turnout of this size we could have easily planted 1,200 trees."

The Planting Day was sponsored by Adshel, the dynamic out-of-home advertising and infrastructure company, which is helping Rainforest Rescue to plant 3,000 trees this season and 7,000 next season.

Joining the local community in planting the trees were the Chair of Rainforest Rescue, Mike Oswald, Executive Officer, Kelvin Davies and winners of Adshel's employee competition to join in the planting - John Vanzella from technical services in Melbourne and account manager Lauren Hamilton from Sydney.

The project was also supported by the North Queensland Wildlife Trust which has made a significant contribution to make these plantings possible and restore wildlife habitat. The young rainforest trees were supplied by a local community nursery operated by the Daintree Cassowary Care Group at Cow Bay.

Rainforest Rescue. Protect Rainforests Forever. For further information: Rainforest Rescue Project Officer, David Cook, (07) 4098 7933 or david@rainforest.org.au or Kelvin Davies, Rainforest Rescue Executive Officer, 0427 662 913

Photo captions (from top)

It was off with the tie for Mike Oswald, Chair of Rainforest Rescue and CEO of Brisbane process improvement company the BPA Group.

Grant and Dianne Knight, who run Daintree Discovery Tours, are seen here with children Mitchell & Sophie getting into the spirit of things on the day.

Adshel were a major sponsor of the Plant a Rainforest Day, and had an employee competition to attend the day. Pictured here is one of the winners John Vanzella from Melbourne.

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