Project Update: Enrichment Program - Year Two in review

Year Two Highlights:

Over the past year, more than 12,400 native rainforest trees were planted across nine enrichment plantings, strategically placed within degraded and fragmented forest remnants. These plantings added hundreds of new species into landscapes once simplified by clearing, weeds and erosion – transforming them into forests that now more closely resemble protected reserves in both structure and diversity.

Importantly, the program continues to deliver where it matters most. 22 nationally threatened plant species were supported in Year Two, including iconic rainforest species such as the Ball Nut, Red Bopple Nut, Silver Quandong and the Birdwing Butterfly Vine – the sole food plant for the threatened Richmond Birdwing Butterfly. By carefully selecting locally native, site-specific species and re-introducing them into the right ecological niches, the program is strengthening genetic diversity and safeguarding the future of species at real risk of extinction.

The results are already visible. Across all sites, plant diversity has increased dramatically, in some cases by more than four times, with early monitoring recording returning pollinators, birds, reptiles, and mammals. These are powerful signs that ecological processes like seed dispersal, natural regeneration and habitat connectivity are being restored, allowing nature to do what it does best.

With two successful years complete, planning is now underway for Year Three, building on this momentum to further enrich rainforest remnants, reconnect habitat corridors and deepen the long-term impact of this work.

Video and Images Credit: ReForest Now