CONSERVATION PROJECT SNAPSHOT
Action: Purchase Lot 26 Ronald Road (RP733653)
Area: 2.093 hectares
Location: Forest Creek, Queensland
Vegetation type: Lowland Tropical Rainforest (remnant and regrowth)
Endangered Ecological Community: Lowland tropical rainforest of the Wet Tropics ecological community is listed in the Endangered Category under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), Climbing Pandan (Freycinetia percostata)
Fundraising for this project is now complete. Thank you to everyone who made a donation to achieve this outcome.
The acquisition of Lot 26 Ronald Road will help to fulfil our vision for the conservation of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest, which requires the buyback of all undeveloped freehold properties so they can be managed for their exceptional conservation values.
With the purchase of this property, we are preventing its development and fragmentation of the landscape. Fragmentation occurs when forests are reduced in the area through deforestation, road building, or other developments, dividing the forest into smaller blocks and creating what is known as the edge effect. The impacts of the edge effect have been thoroughly documented over several decades and show the significant detrimental effects on biodiversity.
View over Lot 26 to the Alexander Range
This is a fantastic outcome for conservation as it shares a boundary with another property purchased for conservation in 2022 and is located only a few hundred metres from the Daintree National Park and World Heritage Area.
Following settlement of this property and its restoration, we will begin the process for it to be assessed for inclusion in the national park.
We have now purchased 28 properties in the Daintree lowlands over the last 3 years - all funded by donations from the public. Through this process, we are reversing the negative impacts of the subdivision of the Daintree in the 1980s that created 1,136 freehold properties.
The endangered Southern Cassowary
ABOUT LOT 26
Lot 26 Ronald Road (RP733653) is a freehold property of 2.093 hectares located at Forest Creek where the endangered Southern Cassowary and the rare Bennetts Tree-Kangaroo have recently been sighted.
Lot 26 Ronald Road was offered for sale on the open market and could have been sold to someone wishing to develop the property.
That's why we took action and exchanged a contract of sale and paid a deposit. On June 29, 2023 we raised enough funds to secure its purchase.
View from Lot 26 Ronald Road
BACKGROUND
In 1982 the Queensland government approved a 1,136-lot rural residential subdivision in the Daintree. This resulted in two-thirds of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest being excluded from protection in the Daintree National Park and Wet Tropics World Heritage Area that was declared in 1988. Lot 26 Ronald Road at Forest Creek is one of these properties.
The Daintree Lowland Rainforest is one of the oldest rainforests on Earth and provides a refuge for wildlife and ancient flowering plants. It holds exceptionally high biodiversity and conservation value and is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest remaining in Australia. With almost 200 undeveloped properties remaining in private ownership, the future of the Daintree is yet to be determined. Will it be increased development and urbanisation, or will it be the winding back of the disastrous subdivision to save the Daintree Rainforest.
Endangered Ecological Community
The Daintree Lowland Rainforest itself has now been identified as part of an Endangered Ecological Community. In November 2021 the Australian Government listed the lowland tropical rainforest of the Wet Tropics ecological community, in the Endangered Category under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The listing is effective as of Friday 26 November 2021 and includes the Wet Tropics of North Queensland, from near Ingham (just south of the Cardwell Range) in the south to north around Cape Tribulation. While now listed as Endangered the Daintree Lowland Rainforest is still not fully protected. The freehold properties in the Daintree lowland remain at risk from rural residential development.
Fan Palm on Lot 26 Ronald Road
STRONGER TOGETHER
The project to purchase and protect land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest is a partnership involving the Rainforest 4 Foundation and Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation. We recognise that we are Stronger Together and raise funds for the buyback of properties in the Daintree Rainforest and their management for conservation.