Cattle Country Back to Rainforest at Tranquility on the Daintree

When I was first introduced to the role of CEO at RR by our Chair, Madeleine Faught, we traveled the Daintree together and journeyed up Stewart Creek Valley in the Upper Daintree.

We’d gone from the lush, ancient majesty that is the Daintree Rainforest into cattle country and it was shocking.

It was astonishing to me that so much rainforest had been turned into cattle pasture. Surely there are better places to graze cattle than in a rainforest ecosystem?

It spawned in me a passion to see the entire valley restored back to rainforest, no matter how long it takes and whether or not I’d live to see it.

This has led to partnerships that are justifying the increased production of native trees that the new Native Daintree Nursery is designed to address. These partnerships are now beginning to launch restoration projects that are greater in scale than any that have been attempted in the area.

At the top end of Douglas Creek in Upper Daintree, there’s a beautiful waterfall on a large property that goes from beautiful rainforest to cow-decimated grassland – that was once rainforest. The property was one of the earliest to be settled and has had several identities in its time. It was one of the earliest settlements in the Daintree and home to a French family, then a Japanese Spa took its place, before being purchased by the current owners who want to see people come stay on the land and connect with the supernatural Daintree.

The current owners are committed to seeing the site restored back to rainforest, and their interests lie in both the natural world and the support of Indigenous Australians. (You can see one of the projects they’ve supported here.)

The whole property could see up to 300 acres (120 Ha) restored, and RR has been asked to start it off with the initial project – setting the pace and tone for what we intend will be a wonderful restoration effort.

Once RR has finished the initial stage of restoration, GreenFleet will be taking over to complete the project.

By then, RR will be primarily responsible for providing the many tree species necessary for a whole rainforest template, as well as participating in the steering group to ensure that best practices in restoration are being applied.

Our first restoration project since we kicked off NightWings, Tranquility is an exciting opportunity to work in yet another type of degraded ecosystem – grassland for cattle.

With trees, love, and support, it will all be restored into a returning, growing rainforest.

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