Rainforest Rescue Charity Profile

Rainforest Rescue Charity post

Background

  • Charity name: Rainforest Rescue
  • Charity partner since: 2012
  • BioPak Give Back Fund contribution: 1% of profits donated
  • Trees planted or rescued: 90,947
  • Land purchased: 8 hectares

Why We Support This Charity

Planting trees and protecting forests is very important to improve the health of the planet and fight climate change. Forests are considered the ‘lungs of the earth’, because of their ability to draw in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. Forest restoration and protection is also a way to mitigate biodiversity loss, which is also a disastrous effect of climate change.

About the Charity

Rainforest Rescue is a not-for-profit that has been protecting rainforests for nearly 25 years by purchasing rainforest properties of high conservation value and protecting their biodiversity forever. They have been working relentlessly to restore vulnerable rainforests through restoration, maintenance and raising awareness. Australia’s largest rainforest, the Daintree, is their key focus, it is one of the most biodiverse environments on the planet, which is unfortunately under threat of being severely degraded. The Daintree is also the world’s most ancient rainforest by far, evolving and thriving for as many as 180 million years. The Amazon, though much larger, has only been around for perhaps 65 million years.

Drone/aerial view of protected rainforest in the DaintreeDrone/aerial view of protected rainforest in the Daintree

Aerial view of Lot 46. Credit: Martin Stringer.

Our Impact

The significant funding from BioPak increases Rainforest Rescue's financial capacity, in general, to go out and buy threatened properties. Through our Give Back Fund and campaign cups, we have donated to the protection and preservation of rainforests.

BioPak has to date funded the protection of eight hectares of threatened rainforest and enabled Rainforest Rescue to plant or rescue 90,947 trees. BioPak not only stands as Rainforest Rescue’s largest Business Partner but also is one of the largest contributor to rainforest conservation. We have contributed to purchasing of Lot 1 (Cape Tribulation Road), Lot 2 (Forest Creek Road), Lots 11, 12 and 19 (Forest Close) and Lot 46 (BioPak’s ‘Piece of Paradise’) to harbour high biodiversity and protect critically important habitat for a range of threatened flora and fauna species.

The IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, ranks the Wet Tropics of Australia, of which the Daintree is the heart, as the second most irreplaceable natural World Heritage site.

Tree Planting

By answering Rainforest Rescue’s call to arms as the first business partner to invest in protecting an entire hectare of Lot 46 forever, we created a high impact conservation success story together. In the words of the rainforest ecologist for Rainforest Rescue, Lot 46 is “…now contributing positively to biodiversity and conservation values, carbon uptake, and protection of important local, regional and global ecological processes in the Daintree. This project provides one of the best global examples of full property restoration in a critically important area with very high biodiversity values.”

On Lot 46, where once just a handful of ‘pioneering’ tree species occurred mixed with the weeds, there is now a growing forest with more than 200 tree species, and in places, some of these are already 12-15m tall! Wildlife is coming back to Lot 46 to search for food and create their home, and as their Rainforest Rescue's ecologist states “what was once weed impacted and rubbish-strewn land is now rich in Cassowary food trees and Cassowaries.

Bush Hens have partitioned off territories across the whole property and are busy turning over the leaf litter. More generally the number and richness of forest birds have increased incredibly. With the forest, birds have come more seeds from the surrounding forest and a continuing increase in ‘natural’ regeneration. Ulysses Butterflies now float majestically between and across the developing forest canopy.”

Rainforest Rescue staff member planting a seedling in the DaintreeRainforest Rescue staff member planting a seedling in the Daintree

Rainforest Rescue’s Kristin Canning planting a seedling in the Daintree

Tree Rescuing

In 2023, BioPak contributed towards the forever protection of 10,520 square metres of threatened Daintree rainforest at Lots 1 (Cape Tribulation) and 11 and 12 (Forest Creek) which includes 6,104 trees rescued from development in this intact habitat that connects many other Rainforest Rescues to the National Park/World Heritage area.

Restoring destroyed rainforest is excellent for many reasons, from recreating habitat that will support myriad species to drawing more carbon from the atmosphere and, ultimately, recreating the richly diverse complex organism that is a fully-developed rainforest.

Buying back and protecting properties in the Daintree reduces the impact of development and maintains the rich, established habitat that is critical for the survival of many rare and threatened species like the Tree Kangaroo.

Reducing the development in the Daintree means less land is clear for dwellings and infrastructure and the traffic is reduced – car strikes are the number one killer of cassowaries in the Daintree. Domestic animal numbers are also kept down – dog attacks are the number two killer of cassowaries in the Daintree.

Rainforest Rescue Nursery

Rainforest Rescue's Land Manager Joe Reichl and his team propagate up to 20,000 local rainforest tree species annually in the Daintree Community Nursery and once planted, have a 98% survival rate for our trees. The team plants over 250 different species of rainforest trees to create a diverse rainforest ecosystem for the many species of plants and animals that exist in the rainforest. Some of the 70,000 trees planted will grow up to a massive 40 metres high.

Incredible ongoing care and maintenance is taken to ensure the high survivability rate on the rainforest tree seedlings and we choose tree-planting sites that enhance existing rainforest remnants and provide links and corridors for wildlife. We want to help threatened species and restore the 75% of Australian rainforest that has been destroyed.

Rainforest Rescue's Land Manager Joe Reichl and his teamRainforest Rescue's Land Manager Joe Reichl and his team

Rainforest Rescue's Land Manager Joe Reichl and his team.


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