19 years planting rainforest at the Point
By D Llegs
Well folks, the 10th of May 2024 was another perfect day for the annual Lennox Head Community Tree Planting Day. After weeks of autumnal rains, the soil was primed for planting and once the morning showers subsided, the sun sparkled on The Point.
This was the nineteenth year of plantings on the headland. Over 1100 littoral rainforest trees were planted by 122 community members, each of them giving a little back to the place we all call home.
The headland, except for the eastern edge, was once totally covered in dense rainforest. The local mob fire-farmed this verge to maintain kangaroo, wallaby and paddymelon habitat (the native grasses growing here are called kangaroo grass). From the late 1860s the headland was cleared for its valuable timber and later used to graze cattle. It remained like this for over 100 years before the first rainforest restoration work occurred behind Pat Morton Lookout in the 1980s.
At the start of the 2000s rainforest restoration began in earnest. A dedicated crew from Ballina Shire Council, Geolink and Lennox Head Landcare, as well as local volunteers and businesses became involved. School kids also participated and each year volunteer numbers grow just like the trees that are planted. In three more years, the spaces earmarked for rainforest regeneration will have been filled. This is a real community volunteer success story.
So what are we seeing? Gone are the days of introduced weeds and grasses; the headland is now closer to how it looked thousands of years ago. The floral habitat that once existed is regenerating itself now. Pioneer species like Macaranga (a broad-leaved native) provide a natural shade-house for rainforest seedlings wherever they pop up. They die back after 8 – 10 years allowing those seedlings to emerge through the canopy and mature providing further habitat for many other floral and faunal species. This is exactly how a regenerating rainforest should work.
Macropods like wallabies are returning too. Birds, unseen for a hundred years are also back. Bats, butterflies, bugs and lizards abound; the variety of native species grows daily. Noisy Pittas, brightly coloured ground-dwelling birds, have migrated from their mountain retreats to over-winter again this year and Rose-crowned fruit doves have been heard, if not seen for the first time on the headland. These species are ‘progress markers’ and, like Macaranga trees, they show us how the regenerating rainforest is maturing and providing for rare and endangered wildlife. Seeing their abundance tells us we are on the right track.
To all those involved in the Community Tree Planting Day: school kids, community volunteers, businesses, council workers, thank you for making Lennox Head a better place to live. The environment was the obvious winner on the day, but by building a greener environment, hopefully we also build a more connected and harmonious community. The benefits will be seen by future generations of plants and animals, as well as people.