The Mt Nardi fires are extinguished – the recent rain made sure of that – but the only way the local rainforests will recover quickly is with a little help from human friends and the R4 Emergency Bushfire Recovery Tree Planting Campaign plans to make a quick start on just that.
With around 30 years experience in saving rainforests including being the founding director or Rainforest Rescue, Kelvin Davies founded the Rainforest 4 Foundation in 2018 to deliver outcomes for wildlife, climate, people and planet through purchasing land, creating new protected areas, stopping and reversing the impacts of development, and restoring rainforest ecosystems damaged in the past. The R4 Emergency Bushfire Recovery Tree Planting Campaign is part of that project.
Davies says there is no time like the present to get started on rescuing the rainforest. ‘Finally, it’s rained and there is no better time to plant trees,’ he said. ‘We need to get that happening immediately. Australia’s wildlife is in crisis so we can’t wait a moment longer. The unprecedented drought and bushfires call for immediate action.’
One million dollars for 100,000 trees
R4 are hoping to raise one million dollars to plant 100,000 trees. Davies says that every $10 will establish one tree. ‘This includes the collection of seeds, propagation, and growing trees in the nursery, then preparing the planting site by removing any weeds, planting the tree which includes managing volunteers and then the maintenance of the trees for three years to ensure they all survive.’
R4 partnering with Reforest Now
Davies says R4 is also partnering with another Mullumbimby outfit, Reforest Now. ‘Reforest Now have a small team of paid staff. They do hard physical work and support the many volunteers that are involved with community tree planting events.’
Davies said the ground doesn’t need any time to recover. ‘We can get planting right away. We’ve already started and can scale up if we get the necessary support.’
For now, Davies is concentrating or organising to get the trees planted. ‘I’m mostly focused on raising the necessary funds, however, I find time to get involved and love planting trees and watching them grow.
So far $111,340 raised by Reforest Now and Rainforest 4 Foundation. Updates on the fundraising and the portal to donate can be found at: www.rainforest4.org.
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