COMPLETED PROJECT SNAPSHOT

Action: Purchase and protection of Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road (Lot 8 RP 737 397)

Area: 1 hectare  

Location: Cow Bay, Daintree Lowland Rainforest, Queensland

Vegetation type: Regional Ecosystem 7.3.10a: Mesophyll vine forest on moderately to poorly-drained alluvial plains, of moderate fertility. Lowlands of the very wet and wet zone. RE 7.3.10a is listed as “Of Concern” under the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

Threatened Species: Southern Cassowary, Macleay's Fig-parrot, Noah's Walnut, China Camp Laurel, Grey's Walnut

Lot 8 Buchannan Creek Road in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest

Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest

Purchase of Daintree's Lot 8 

The high biodiversity and spectacular tropical rainforest at Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road justified its immediate purchase and protection. The Daintree Lowland Rainforest is a living museum and Lot 8 Buchannan Creek Road is an important refuge for biodiversity. 

Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road at Cow Bay shares a boundary with the Daintree National Park and World Heritage Area. Undeveloped freehold properties in the Daintree should not be left in the ownership of people who would destroy the rainforest. Development for housing fragments the rainforest and has negative on impacts the surrounding rainforest.

Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road could have been developed for housing subject to approval by the Douglas Shire Council just as nearby properties have been in the past. Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road was created through the subdivision of land in 1982. It has been resold a number of times. Fortunately, the multiple owners failed to realise their homebuilding dreams. The property is reasonably flat and in preparing for building a previous owner created a road and cleared a house pad. Now we have the opportunity to purchase this property and ensure the rainforest is protected from the threat of development and the small clearing restored to wildlife habitat.  

Kelvin Davies on Lot 8 Buchannan Creek Road

Kelvin Davies with Fan Palms on Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road

A feature of the property is the many beautiful Fan Palms (Licuala ramsayi) and Zamia Ferns (Bowenia spectabilis). 

Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road is located at Cow Bay in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. Buying land in this location helps us to reverse the impacts of the disastrous 1980’s rural residential subdivision. We are focusing our efforts at Cow Bay as scientists have identified this area as providing an “Essential habitat for the Endangered Southern Cassowary”.

Cassowaries have been sighted on Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road and on nearby properties.

Southern Cassowary in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest

Our survey of Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road identified the presence of the Cooper Creek Haplostichanthus (Polyalthia xanthocarpa) which grows as an understorey shrub to 3m in height. It is endemic to the rainforests of the Daintree lowlands and the large majority of records come from the vicinity of the Cow Bay - Cape Tribulation area. It is a recently described species formally recognised in 2007 as Haplostichanthus ramiflorus and then redescribed as Polyalthia xanthocarpa in 2012.

Polyalthia xanthocarpa

Cooper Creek Haplostichanthus

We found many specimens of the Black Palm (Normanbya normanbyi) on Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road. This single-stemmed palm grows up to 30m tall and the fruits are eaten by the endangered Southern Cassowary.

In 1988 the Daintree National Park was expanded and was included in the Wet Tropics Work Heritage Area. This should have seen the rainforest at Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road protected forever. However, two-thirds of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest, the land between the Daintree River and Cow Bay had been carved up for a rural residential subdivision in 1982 and was excluded from World Heritage listing. 

Protecting Lot 8 Buchanan Creek Road at Cow Bay is a fantastic outcome for conservation as it will prevent another house from being built in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest. 

Fruit of the Black Palm 

Kelvin Davies on Lot 8 Buchannan Creek Road

Lot 8 Buchannan Creek Road

 

 

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