cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/989240

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/989239

With value measured in cows, we would struggle to make a living from Thiaki even though rainforest was among the most biologically valuable pieces of land in the country.

The nearest town is Malanda, 15km to the north by road. While it hadn’t been easy to turn lush tropical rainforest into paddocks - some individual settlers worked at it for decades - how could you turn paddocks back into rainforest? Local efforts on the Atherton Tablelands to restore degraded land back to rainforest were heroic but ad hoc.

Work commenced apace to design the reforestation research plan for the foundations of a brand-new rainforest that uses different mixes and numbers of native species with different planting densities.

On 28 January 2011, a bunch of academics and a crack team of planters with dirt under their fingernails and dreadlocks like flowing lianas, assembled to build the foundations of a rainforest with 30,000 plants, and to create the conditions for a phoenix to rise once more from the ashes.

The clearing frenzy of the first 20 years of the 20th century brought about the near extinction of the upland rainforest on the Atherton Tablelands.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479723004334

• Reforestation success can be improved by enhancing tree planting methods
• Low sapling survival rates lead to high replacement costs and can hinder reforestation efforts
• Damage to fibrous roots during handling affects sapling survival
• Initial soil properties and conditions have a greater impact on sapling survival than adult traits
• Careful planting methods result in better sapling survival rates in the longer term
• Factors such as seedling survival, root growth, and seedling quality play a significant role in tree establishment
• Non-native grass removal and shade increase soil moisture and seedling performance during forest restoration