The ARF Daintree Nursery

	November 2007: Site preparations are well underway.

With the continued success and huge growth of ARF’s various initiatives and revegetation projects in the Daintree area, it soon became apparent to feed our need for species specific trees we would have to grow our own.

The site for the ARF’s Daintree nursery was chosen at Lot 15 Cape Tribulation Rd, ARF’s Community Conservation Office and a site located close to many ARF blocks that would benefit from the plants and seedlings.

It quickly became evident that a facility such as this located in the Daintree, would be a catalyst to all ARF’S other local initiatives i.e. stewardship programs, weed workshops and re-vegetation programs. At the same time the projects would successfully respond to community feedback in the search for the ‘right advice’ to manage weeds and undertake revegetation work by planting the ‘right tree in the right place’.

Successful grant submissions were made to the Federal Governments Envirofund R9 and WWF Threatened Species Fund. Further funding was also made available from currently held funds for Operation Big Bird and Daintree projects.

Due to its remote location the project threw up many challenges for both the ARF and the professional contractors engaged to assist but the nursery was completed in June 2008, with the first locally collected wild seeds being potted that same month.

The nursery facility has been designed to enable simple low cost operation utilising some of the Community Conservation Officers’ time and a handful of selected local volunteers. Running at peak production it is anticipated that up to 20,000 sapling plants per annum can be produced enabling our revegetation projects to proceed at a pace much faster than that reliant on external suppliers.

ARF is currently seeking NIASA (Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme, Australia) accreditation. This is a national scheme for production nurseries of best practice and environmentally sound operations, encompassing sterile facilities, water management and pathogen control. With NGIO (Nursery & Garden Industry Queensland) help ARF is working towards these goals and gaining certification.

The right tree in the right place

	Regular tree planting days ensure the ‘right tree in the right place’.

The Australian Greenhouse Office estimates that a single hectare of replanted tropical rainforest will ‘sequester’ (store), on average, more than 700 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 20 years. The average Australian household is probably responsible for emitting about 400 tonnes in 20 years.

All new plantings conducted by the ARF are protected for the lifetime of the trees under the covenants that protect the land. 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.