big scrub rainforest conservancy

Formerly Big Scrub Landcare, we are one of Australia’s most successful not-for-profit community conservation organisations.

We help save from extinction Australia’s critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest and its many threatened species.

We are the Voice of the Rainforest.

About Us

Welcome to the Big Scrub

The “Big Scrub” was once the largest area of lowland subtropical rainforest in Australia: it covered 75,000 ha in the hinterland of Byron Bay, until cleared by European settlers. Today, only 1% of this once mighty rainforest remains.

Despite this devastation, its remnants retain the highest proportion of Gondwana-descended species of any rainforest in Australia, with many lineages dating back more than 180 million years. Home to the richest terrestrial biodiversity in NSW – the third richest in Australia – it’s an ancient, complex ecosystem of immense ecological and cultural value.

Discover the Big Scrub

Science Saving Rainforests

Our ground-breaking Science Saving Rainforests program analyses the genomes of 60 species occurring in critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest based on DNA sequencing of more than 10,000 leaf samples.

These genome analyses will inform the establishment of a multi-species living seed bank plantation that will produce planting stock with optimal genetic diversity for restoration plantings to help save from extinction our critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest and its threatened species.

Learn More About SSR

Donate to Science Saving Rainforests

Koalas in the Big Scrub

With mass eucalypt plantings on land that was once Big Scrub rainforest increasing, Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy is calling for a measured approach to koala habitat creation in North-Eastern NSW.

We’ve created a short film and other resources exploring the conservation dilemma of Koalas in the Big Scrub, and gathered during Big Scrub Rainforest Day Celebrations in November 2023 to discuss the issue with the community.

Watch Panel Discussion & Short Film

The Big Scrub Rainforest Book

Our book – The Big Scrub Rainforest: A Journey Through Time – explores the ecological and cultural value of the Big Scrub, with contributions from Bob Brown, Dr Tony Parkes and Martin Brook, along with the region’s best ecologists, photographers and regenerators. Take a journey into the Big Scrub and learn how it came to be, its ecological value, what it means to people and what its future could be like.

Get Your Copy of A Journey Through Time

Our Programs

For over 30 years, we’ve connected community and employed groundbreaking, science-backed techniques to restore critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest.

Science Saving Rainforests

Re-establishing Rainforest

Remnant Care

Connecting Community

Stories of Success

Dawes Bush: Eltham

Dawes Bush: Eltham Valley’s Earliest Tale of Conservation The story of Dawes...

TARRA: Bangalow

A look inside Big Scrub RC Co-Founder, Dr Tony Parkes’, Bangalow rainforest...

Brookfarm: McLeods Shoot

Brookfarm’s transformation from desolate farm to towering rainforest ...

Grow Your Own Rainforest

Wondering how to restore rainforest on your own land? We’ve developed a step-by-step guide.

Subtropical Rainforest Restoration Manual

Our rainforest restoration manual is a comprehensive guide for land owners, managers and regenerators seeking to re-establish or rehabilitate rainforest.

The manual contains information on how to care for existing subtropical rainforest remnants as well as re-establish subtropical rainforest on land from which it has been cleared. It incorporates the latest science and best practice for rainforest regeneration planning, planting, weed control and important data relevant to planting the trees and shrubs that occur in lowland subtropical rainforest.

Get Your Copy

More Information

Read our FAQs for quick answers to common regen questions.

FAQs

Latest News

Rainforest Warriors: New book recounts social and environmental history of the Big Scrub

Editor’s note: The words below by Stephen Wyatt provide an insight into his book ‘Rainforest Warriors’ and the history of the Big Scrub. When the Northern Rivers went from rural to radical in the 1970s, the scene was set for a stoush with loggers and government to...

The Booyong Reserve story: 25 years of restoring a unique riverine remnant

By Darren Bailey. The Booyong Flora Reserve is a unique rainforest remnant of the former Big Scrub. The rainforest occupies 13ha of low lying flats located at the junction of the Wilsons River and Pearces Creek. It is the only true riverine rainforest remnant on crown...

Rainforest Connections 2024 Recap: Long overdue rainforest conference united conservationists in Ballina

We had the pleasure of being a major sponsor and presenter at Rainforest Connections 2024 a few months back – the first conference in over twenty years dedicated to rainforest conservation, an event which gave rainforest practitioners a much needed chance to unite in...

Major Big Scrub bird monitoring project gets underway

Our exciting new project to systematically monitor Big Scrub bird species is officially underway with the deployment of bioacoustic recording devices and cutting-edge bird call analysis software at sites across the Big Scrub. With funding support from Rekindle...

Announcement: Science Saving Rainforests, our world-first Australian science project, to save precious rainforests

The future of Australian rainforests is at a crossroads. Research has shown that what’s left of the once mighty rainforests of Northern New South Wales are now critically endangered and could face extinction because of a serious lack of genetic diversity. A world...

Mark Dunphy announced as Big Scrub RC’s new President

Our Co-Founder and Vice President, Mark Dunphy, has assumed the position of President of Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy following our annual general meeting in December. Mark was voted in by members at the AGM, which was the last presided over by Dr Tony...

President’s Report: 2022-23 Annual Report to members

BSRC had another great year in 2022-23. Our long-term, world-leading Science Saving Rainforests Program continued to make steady progress. To date, leaf samples have been collected from 12,352 individual trees. Collections have been completed across the range of 23...

Rainforest Connections 2024 conference to connect scientists and practitioners

Rainforest Connections 2024, which Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy is proud to support, is an exciting new conference that will be held on 4-7 June 2024 in Ballina. The conference, which is brought to you by the NSW Government in partnership with Saving our Species,...

Thank you, Tony: Reflecting on 30 years at the helm of Big Scrub RC

As our President of 30 years steps down we want to thank a man who devoted three decades of unwavering service to the rainforest. Dr Tony Parkes AO was a co-founder of the Big Scrub Rainforest Landcare Group when we first formed in 1993. He was instrumental in...

Photographers of the Big Scrub: Iain Stych

Story and photos by Babette Weatherell What makes a talented wild photographer? For Iain Stych it started as a zookeeper. Iain’s zookeeping career of 20+ years saw him working with snakes, birds, mammals and monotremes across Scotland, New Zealand and Australia. His...