A world-class centre for rainforest restoration in Northern NSW.
Vision and key elements
The Gondwana Rainforest Centre will be strategically located on the corner of Myocum Road and Coolamon Scenic Drive in Mullumbimby, a gateway to several of the protected areas that form part of the World Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia. The Gondwana Rainforests have an extremely high conservation value and provide the principal habitat for more than 200 rare or threatened plant and animal species of international significance for science and conservation.
The Gondwana Rainforest Centre will be a world class centre for rainforest restoration and protection for the Northern NSW region and will support employment, education, recreation, environmental and tourism opportunities for the Northern NSW region. Key components of Stage one of the centre will include:
- A best practice rainforest plant nursery producing up to 250,000 trees per year.
- A community volunteer hub and meeting place.
- A rainforest arboretum showcasing culturally significant rainforest plants.
Community benefits and outcomes
The project will deliver the following outcomes & benefits to the local community:
- Create 7.6 FTE jobs during the three year development phase of the project and provide direct ongoing employment after the project development period.
- Produce up to 250,000 rainforest plants per year to address shortages caused by the recent closure of local nurseries and increased demand from community and Landcare groups for the reforestation of degraded rainforest and disaster-affected areas throughout the region.
- The propagation and planting of 5 million trees in the NSW North Coast region over the next 20 years and the restoration of up to 100 hectares of degraded or disaster-affected land annually.
- Associated regeneration work that will target threatened ecosystems, increase environmental resilience and restore vital rainforest habitat to support native animals.
- Direct and indirect skilled employment opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people throughout the Northern NSW region.
- Provide a meeting place for like minded individuals wishing to contribute to positive conservation outcomes for our rainforests
- Strengthening of networks between local councils, First Nations people, the broader community and environmental workers.
Project status
Gondwana Rainforest Trust has an approved development application to build a nursery on the subject property in Mullumbimby. A long term lease has been secured over the property and adjacent areas where the nursery will be built. The nursery infrastructure will be built in stages, allowing for the escalation of production over two years. The development has been fully costed with projections.
The current project focus includes:
- Early site revegetation activities
- Finalising design elements of the Master Plan
- Exploring potential partnership and funding opportunities
Finance
The overall infrastructure cost of Stage One of the project is estimated at $1.8 million. This includes the construction of all nursery related infrastructure.
Once fully developed and operational, the centre is forecast to turnover $400,000 per year to the Gondwana Rainforest Trust. Profits from this income will be able to be applied to increasing the positive environmental and conservation outcomes of the organisation and to support rainforest restoration projects throughout Northern NSW.
Some grants are available to not-for-profit organisations and local government entities, for capital works projects that deliver community and economic infrastructure projects across regional and rural Australia. Applications typically require a co-contribution of between 20% and 50% to fund projects.
Gondwana Rainforest Trust is currently seeking in-kind and financial support from individuals and philanthropic trusts to enable it to demonstrate that it has 50% of the funds available for the construction of all project related infrastructure for stage one of the development.
To find out more about how you can support this project, please contact Richard Christian on (02) 8005 6995 or email [email protected].