A rainforest corridor takes shape
Before committing to the purchase of land in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest, we conduct a thorough survey to confirm its natural values. Our botanist and ecologist, Kristopher Kupsch, spent a day combing every metre of this 10,630 square metre block at Cow Bay, and what he found confirms it belongs alongside the very best of the properties we've protected.
Lot 265 sits at the edge of a corridor that's already taking shape. Its neighbour, Lot 257 Silver Ash Road, was transferred into Daintree National Park in June 2026. Securing Lot 265 means consolidating that corridor, turning two separate wins into one connected stretch of protected rainforest.
Donate now to help purchase and protect Lot 265.
Ancient rainforest still under threat
Lot 265 lies within the Daintree Lowland Rainforest, a landscape that has existed continuously for over 120 million years. In November 2021, the Australian Government listed the lowland tropical rainforest of the Wet Tropics ecological community as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Despite that listing, freehold blocks like Lot 265 remain unprotected and at risk of rural residential development, a legacy of the 1982 subdivision that carved the Daintree Lowland Rainforest into 1,136 lots.
The property is entirely undeveloped, with closed canopy rainforest across the whole site. The only disturbance is a small entrance area, where an old vehicle and outhouse remain from a former owner. Funds raised for this project will go towards the purchase, its long-term protection, and removing this leftover debris so the small cleared area can regenerate naturally.
Two rainforest ecosystems in one block
Kristopher's survey confirmed two distinct regional ecosystems on the property. Around 80 per cent of Lot 265 is Regional Ecosystem 7.11.1a, mesophyll vine forest on metamorphics, listed as of least concern and still relatively widespread across the region. The remaining 20 per cent, bordering Silver Ash Road on the lower, alluvial ground, is Regional Ecosystem 7.3.10a, mesophyll vine forest on moderately to poorly drained alluvial plains, listed as "of concern" under the Vegetation Management Act 1999.
Kristopher Kupsch surveying Lot 265 Silver Ash Road.
The Queensland Government recognises 7.3.10a for its special values, including habitat for threatened plant species. Small, very wet pockets of lowland rainforest like this one, between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation, harbour plants that are extremely restricted and uncommon, and are considered local centres of endemism.
216 native plant species
In a single survey, Kristopher recorded 216 native plant species on Lot 265. Among them were eight species of native palm, 15 native laurels, 15 species in the Rubiaceae family, seven native figs, and 12 species of tuckeroo and tamarind in the Sapindaceae family.
Two of these are formally listed as threatened under the Nature Conservation Act 1992:
- Noah's Walnut (Endiandra microneura): Near Threatened. This large tree grows naturally only within the Daintree rainforests, predominantly north of the Daintree River and south of Cape Tribulation. A small number were recorded on Lot 265.
- Daintree Gardenia (Randia audasii): Near Threatened. Restricted to a patchy distribution between Cooktown, Cairns and Atherton, where it's never common. Two specimens were found on the property.
Noah's Walnut (Endiandra microneura), found on Lot 265.
A further five species were identified as regionally significant, including Strobilanthes linearifolia, a small herbaceous herb found along the creek line that marks the known southern limit of the species' range, with very few records anywhere else in Australia. Elsewhere it's known only from Cape Tribulation, Cape York and Papua New Guinea.
The property is also home to locally endemic species such as the Daintree Satinash (Syzygium monospermum), found only in the Daintree lowlands between Julatten and Cape Tribulation.
Daintree Satinash (Syzygium monospermum), found on the banks of the stream dissecting Lot 265.
Essential habitat for threatened species
A Matters of State Environmental Significance search confirms that 100 per cent of Lot 265 is mapped as essential habitat for the endangered Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) and for the Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). A neighbouring landholder reports cassowary sightings every two to three days, and has also observed a Bennett's Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus), near threatened in its own right, on the block.
Bennett's Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus), spotted on Lot 265.
The property is classified as holding Special Biodiversity Values across the full range of Queensland Government indicators, including centres of endemism, wildlife refugia, disjunct populations, limits of geographical ranges, high species richness, relictual populations, variation in species populations, and climate refugia.
A rainforest stream to the Great Barrier Reef
A permanent stream runs through Lot 265, fed by drainage lines off the Alexandra Range to the south. It forms part of the Cooper Creek system, flowing out through the mangroves and ultimately into the Coral Sea, a catchment of the Great Barrier Reef. This gives the property Very High Aquatic Conservation Significance, and protecting it helps safeguard water quality from rainforest to the reef.
Feral pig damage was noted along the creek during the survey, and a feral pig trap has been recommended once the property is secured, one of the ongoing management tasks that continued protection makes possible.
Kristopher Kupsch on Lot 265 Silver Ash Road.
Why this block matters
Lot 265 will be our 20th property purchased in Cow Bay alone. Rainforest doesn't work in isolation; it works as connected habitat. Every lot we secure alongside an already-protected neighbour strengthens the corridor, reduces fragmentation, and gives cassowaries, tree-kangaroos and hundreds of plant species room to move, breed and disperse seed the way an intact rainforest is meant to.
Donate now to help purchase and protect Lot 265 and complete this Cow Bay corridor.