Hello friends,

My name is Paul Medici and I am the Assistant Project Leader for Protect Vital Rainforest in Australia for Climate. I am also the Manager of American Operations for the Australian Rainforest Foundation and I just returned home from a three week working trip to Australia. Accompanying me on this trip was Nicole LaGreco, Supervisor of the Avian Propagation Center and North American Cassowary Studbook Keeper from the San Diego Zoo. The San Diego Zoo has been a big supporter of our GlobalGiving project and the Australian Rainforest Foundation and like of all you, their donations (as well as working with some of their excellent bird department staff) have made all the difference. Without all of you, our rehabilitation efforts and recovery work with endangered species would be severely weakened.

The focus of this field report this month is on maintaining rehabilitation sites in the tropical rainforests of Northern Queensland, Australia. This time of year is known as the dry season, but this season has been exceptionally dry. There have only been two recorded rains in the past 7-8 weeks and as you might expect, this poses many problems for the rainforest and its wildlife, especially in areas where young trees are concerned. Larger rainforest trees have deeper roots that can reach lower levels of water in the ground, but the thousands of trees we have planted throughout the year (thanks to our donors) need major site maintenance work in order to keep the trees alive until the rains come.

All of the enclosed pictures today highlight the severe lack of rain in the rainforest. Our Conservation Officer, Adrian (Golly) Watson, is in charge of maintaining these rehabilitation areas for the Foundation. Instead of digging holes, planting new trees with ARF volunteers and mapping new revegetation corridors to link to the pristine old-growth rainforest on the other side of this ARF rainforest reserve, Golly has been busy setting up pumps at the river and watering our rehabilitation sites just like we would water our tomato plants back home in the hot August sun. So Mother Nature sometimes presents us with unwelcome challenges, but Golly is a good mate and he is always there to tackle the challenges, whether on his own or with ARF staff and/or volunteers by his side.

I had a great time visiting our GlobalGiving project site again this year and I have seen firsthand all the work that needs to be done. Our nursery is getting stocked up and we will have more trees to plant once the weather cooperates. There is a lot more work that needs to be done and we would like to plant between 35,000-50,000 trees within the next 12 months. Protecting the pristine old-growth rainforest and bolstering key wildlife habitats and mega-biodiversity is the key and this means pushing ahead with our rehabilitation and recovery work. This work doesn’t come cheap though and we would greatly appreciate donations of any size to help us further our mission. Thank you very much for your support and we look forward to updating you again soon.

Cheers,

Paul Medici
ARF

Attachments:

• Golly and Jacinta of the ARF and Nicole of the SD Zoo in red
• Dry ground
• Old-growth rainforest in the backdrop

Out with the Weed, in with the Tree…

Hi there….,

Well its June here in the beautiful Daintree National Park, North Queensland, which signals the dry season in the tropics. We have a very busy few months ahead of us to achieve our targets in extending and repairing the Rainforest.

We were lucky enough to have 24 students from St Kevin’s College in Victoria come up and give us a hand in some weed eradication, site testing and clean up. They came in three waves to the site to slog it out by slashing, rubbish removal, weed pulling and of course tree planting. We now have four different kinds of weed eradication tests in progress for best practice in the future. The kids were able to take with them some valuable lessons in caring for our environment as well as splinters, bruises and sore muscles for their hard work, for which we are very grateful.

The dry season allows us to have full access to the site that we don’t have during the wet season. We have found the feral pigs have been in and damaged some hard work already done on the site back in November 2008 which needs to be repaired. We have now completed site preparation of 2000 square meters and planted 800 rainforest trees to start the transformation from degraded land to new rainforest.

We appreciate your continued support and look forward to the hard work your kind donations make possible. Making an incredible environmental impact is not easy, but donors such as you make it easier. GlobalGiving has had such an important impact on our environmental efforts. The ARF is a better Foundation because of all of you and the Project Leader looks forward to updating you soon on this field work in progress.

Thanks Aye!!

Jacinta Allen McCosh
Office Manager
Australian Rainforest Foundation

Pictures:

• Students planting trees (JPG)
• Site maintenance (JPG)
• ARF works to trap the feral pigs (JPG)

Hi Mates,

Project Leader Roger Phillips here. I have some great news to share with you!

If you donate now to help rehabilitate and protect Australia's rainforests, your generous gift will be matched. That's right! In honor of Earth Day 2009, GlobalGiving has offered to match all donations at 50% (up to $5,000 per individual). The match will be available from April 4 – April 28 or until $25,000 in matching funds have been depleted.

In addition to matching funds, we are also competing for prizes! The three projects receiving the greatest number of donations will receive prizes of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000, respectively. Even if matching funds are depleted, the challenge portion of the campaign will continue until April 28th.

We need to act fast! By donating now through GlobalGiving, you will be supporting our project Protect Vital Rainforest in Australia for Climate.

We are very grateful that GlobalGiving selected us for this bonus opportunity. Please help us make the most of it. It's an easy way to get more impact from your donation dollars right now!


Cheers Mates!!!

Roger Phillips

Pictures:

• Rainforest cartoon (JPG)

"It was a hot and sticky day in the rainforest...the rainy season was fast approaching and hands and knees got very dirty."

Hi everyone,

In November 2008, representatives from three sponsoring partners joined ARF staff on the George Mansford Reserve rehabilitation site at Cape Tribulation to plant a share of a 3,000 tree quota. Money raised from this GlobalGiving project (thanks to all of you) was also used to plant trees.

This is a perfect example of why GlobalGiving is so special. Your American donations went straight into the hands of the Australian Rainforest Foundation and Australian tourism partners for planting. We appreciate your continued support and look forward to working with you again this year, and making an incredible environmental impact.

More nursery work and tree planting and helping fund vital cassowary wildlife corridors and field studies, are just a few of the things your donations will help fund. Thanks and the Project Leader looks forward to updating you soon on the work in the field.

Cheers!!

Pictures:

• tree planting (JPG)
• planting trees (JPG)
• baby cassowary (JPG)

Hi Mates!

We are having a very good planting season and we are busy revegetating the George Mansford Reserve with native rainforest trees. By extending our rainforests by planting new mixed species of rainforest trees, the ARF is helping breathe life back into the environment while recovering rare, threatened and endangered plant and animal species, including the endangered ‘Gardener of the Rainforest’ – the Cassowary.

With the rainy season fast approaching, we are planting the trees that are ready to go into the ground. Soon, our Conservation Officer will be very busy trying to keep the lush and fast growing weeds under control. This is very important in areas dominated by young trees.

We are updating the George Mansford Reserve section of the website right now and to follow the progress of site preparation and tree planting, please visit http://www.arf.net.au/mansfordreserve/index.html

Cheers Mates!

Pictures:

• Essential seeds inside ARF nursery (JPG)
• Fruit of a Blue Quandong (JPG)
• Newly planted mix of Quandong, fig and Davidson Plum trees (JPG)

Hi Mates!

Here are some pictures of the nursery. We are now repairing and extending the George Mansford Reserve. This will provide ongoing habitat for endangered flagship species like the Southern Cassowary. The cassowary is a large flightless bird and it is known as the Rainforest Gardener because of its incredible seed dispersal abilities.

The cassowary maintains the integrity, mega bio-diversity and the soul of the rainforest. Your contributions help the cassowary and the Australian Rainforest Foundation do its job. For more info, please visit us at www.arf.net.au.

Thanks mates!

Pictures:

• Nursery (JPG)
• Rainforest tree (JPG)
• Nursery (JPG)

A lot of hard work has been undertaken by ARF staff in the Daintree over the past four months in preparation for the start of rehabilitation works at the George Mansford Reserve. The end of the 2007-08 wet season in April, means that we are now able to get machinery on site to deal with the weed infestation on the corner of the block. This will take place during late May 2008. In the meantime, staff has been busy building a new nursery at the ARF Daintree HQ and stocking it with a variety of rainforest species in preparation for planting on the George Mansford reserve. More than 150 different species will eventually be required for the rehabilitation works in accordance with a specific rehabilitation plan, devised by ARF scientists.

Pictures:

• Nursery picture (JPG)
• Another nursery picture (JPG)
• Nursery picture (JPG)

Well, we wouldn’t have rainforests without rain – and we’ve had plenty of it in far north Queensland, and particularly the Daintree region, over the past two months with record rains battering the region, flooding rivers and cutting off communities.

At one stage the wild weather isolated the towns of Port Douglas, Daintree Village and Mossman. Nearly 21 inches of rain fell in Port Douglas in 24 hrs, the deluge was the highest daily rainfall recorded since 1911 for the town (only an hours drive from the George Mansford Reserve).

We do anticipate and plan for rain in the ‘Wet Season’ but so much of it has severely delayed site preparation work on the George Mansford Reserve. ARF conservation officers have instead been concentrating efforts on the new ARF nursery, preparing seedlings for the right trees to revegetate the block.

We look forward to welcoming a group of Environmental Study’s students from Vanderbilt University in May. They are the second group to visit from the Tennessee Uni and will be checking on the progress of trees planted by their predecessors last year, while planting further trees to continue to extend our tropical rainforests. We thank them and all of you for your support in helping save these very precious and beautiful ecosystems.

In order to start the revegetation of the block in March 2008, some serious site preparation has begun. Old cattle fencing has been removed and boundary signage and fencing erected. Further scientific surveys were undertaken in November 2007, which identified weed infestation. This will be treated during the December to February period in preparation for the revegetation program scheduled for after the tropical wet season in March 2008. In addition, the ARF has started a feral pig eradication program through a contracted pig trapper. These introduced pests are a threat to cassowary young and destroy cassowary habitat.

We are also putting our University Volunteer Program into place and looking forward to the extra help on the ground. Thank you very much for your kind donations and we look forward to updating you regularly on the progress we are making--thanks to you. Cheers!

Pictures:

• Cassowary egg (JPG)
• Picture of gate (JPG)