3000 reasons to Love the Daintree

Not like you needed more … but here’s another 3000 reasons to Love the Daintree!

This year’s Community Tree Planting was terrific for so many reasons. We had a great turnout with locals – some first timers and some who’ve been coming for years – as well as folks from all over the world. We had partners from Sedgwick County Zoo come all the way over from Wichita, Kansas for the event – they loved it!

The event began with a warm welcome to country from local Kuku Ylanji elder, Bennett Walker, who told us of the land and his relationship to it since boyhood – and then before that. His son, local Kuku Ylanji language teacher and Walkabout Cultural Adventures owner, Juan Walker, performed a ritual smoking ceremony, designed to complete the welcome for each of us as we moved through the smoke into the field. Juan tells us that, “Smoking ceremonies are a traditional practice passed down through each generation and are a means of cleansing energy and connecting people with country.” It worked!

All up we had 10 of our business partners represented on the day, including BioPak, Arnhem Clothing – check out their blog post, Platinum Cables, Daintree Eco Lodge, WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo, Silky Oaks Lodge & Spa, Cairns Airport, Backyard Country Bliss, Niramaya Villas and Spa, Helitours North Qld, Ocean Safari, and Daintree Discovery Centre. Together we had almost 100 total tree planters.

We planted close to 3000 trees – a new record! All up you’ve helped put almost 70,000 trees back into Nature at NightWings. Great work everyone!

We couldn’t have planted the 3000 trees without the help of all our Rainforest Rescuers.

Board member, Tony Gilding, was in the thick of it and comes every year. “What better way to spend a morning than with 100 other committed conservationists planting 3000 + trees in the Daintree? While some politicians continue to discuss whether climate change is important we are busy giving these beautiful sprouting babies a good start to life and protecting their elder’s habitat just up the road. That’s what makes Rainforest Rescue so special and deserving of our support.”

It’s important to note that the full Board of Directors was onsite to help. They are all deeply committed to the Rainforests and to the success of Rainforest Rescue’s mission – Protect Rainforests Forever.

We’re also very grateful for our partner in this, NightWings owner, Annie Schoenberger. Annie has been working with RR for several years to restore the cane fields that make up much of her property to bring the property back to the rainforest it once was. Her vision is bold and heroic. NightWings is both a nature reserve in the making as well as a Bat Rescue Centre. Annie is utterly committed to the welfare of the charismatic pollinators.

NightWings Rainforest is the ambitious project of re-establishing an ecosystem where there had once been rainforest. Over the last 60 years this land has been destroyed by farming and now we are recreating a functional and resilient natural ecosystem for the future.

It’s really coming along beautifully – and we couldn’t do this without all of you.

Thank you!

Photos by Martin Stringer Photography and Silvia Di Domenicantonio @2019

So there you have it, another 3000 reasons to Love the Daintree!

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