Latest News
Science Saving the Coolamon
By Renee Borrow, Manager, Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy The Coolamon (Syzygium moorei), a threatened species, is one of the most beautiful and unique trees found in our critically endangered Big Scrub lowland subtropical rainforest. Growing to 40m high, the Coolamon exhibits a spectacular floral display between November and February with orange-red to pale pink flower clusters forming on old...
A successful Big Scrub Rainforest Day at Rocky Creek Dam
Big Scrub Rainforest Day at Rocky Creek Dam on Sunday 30th October 2022. What a fantastic day we had together at Rocky Creek Dam on Sunday 30th October, 2022, for our 24th annual Big Scrub Rainforest Day! The weather was absolutely glorious and there were so many smiling faces! With an estimated 750 people in attendance, it was truly wonderful to see so many people who were keen to learn more...
Big Scrub Landcare is changing its name to Big Scrub Rainforest Conservancy
Our new name better reflects the greatly broadened scope of our activities, particularly our flagship program Science Saving Rainforests, which is analysing the genomes of 60 species that will inform the restoration of, and help save from extinction, our critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest and 30 of its threatened plant species. It leads the world in ecological restoration. Its...
Environmental Trust support for remnant care continues
Big Scrub Landcare would like to acknowledge the NSW Environmental Trust for supporting our project Restoring Critically Endangered Lowland Subtropical Rainforest over the past 2 years. This funding has built on Big Scrub Landcare’s long term program to restore critically endangered lowland rainforest. This involves rehabilitating remnants of critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest...
Science Saving Rainforest Update and Tony’s AABR’s AGM Presentation
Our President and Co-Founder Dr Tony Parkes presented an update on our Science Saving Rainforests program at the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators AGM a few weeks back. The program has been expanded from a total of 23 species to now incorporate 60 species – 30 key canopy and other structural species and 30 threatened species – in the plantation. Covid and now the floods have...
Historical account reveals 8 floods in a single year, waterways altered for logging and monster red cedar
Early historical accounts of settlement in the Northern Rivers make for a fascinating read and give us insight into what the Big Scrub was originally like. That the landscape was irrevocably changed is well documented, but what's less well known is the role of flooding in timber transport and the changes made to the waterways of the Richmond catchment. Even more startling in the wake of this...
Fact or fiction: Do water crystals work?
By Mark Dunphy and Joe Harvey Jones People are always asking whether they should use water crystals with opinions on their effectiveness varying greatly. Some regenerators swear by them, including them in plantings of tens of thousands of trees, while others think their effectiveness is limited. With tree planting numbers ramping up by the tens of thousands every year and planting outside...
‘Green shoots in the mud’: Signs of flood resilience growing among remnants
Much like a dry forest regenerating from fire, the Big Scrub is showing signs of recovery from last month’s devastating floods. Our team has been out inspecting remnants to begin the task of assisting recovery and planning for future impact from these extraordinary flooding events. While plenty of evidence of adaptation to floodwaters was observed, the deluge didn’t leave our remnants...
TARRA: Bangalow
A look inside Big Scrub RC Co-Founder, Dr Tony Parkes’, Bangalow rainforest After hanging up his hat as an investment banker in the ‘80s, Dr Tony Parkes AO and his late wife Rowena began planting rainforest trees on their Bangalow property. The pair, who were 18 and 20 when they met in Tasmania, had spent the better part a year travelling around Australia, but nothing impressed them more than...
Habitat restoration for the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly
Photography and insights from Big Scub Landcare member Stephanie and Leo Lymburner. In 1968 Di Mercer acquired a piece of ‘rubbish land’ on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, a block deemed ‘useless’ by its dairy farming owner due to its steep, rocky slopes. Di, who had been a keen conservationist for some years, decided she would like to rehabilitate it to the original vegetation...