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Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ) hosted the 2025 Mabi Forest Planting Day on 3rd February in partnership with Reforest and Terrain NRM at Wongabel on the Atherton Tablelands where a buffer of trees has been planted alongside the Kennedy Highway and revegetation is underway beside existing forest.

TTNQ Chief Executive Mark Olsen said about 40 tourism industry representatives helped to plant 3150 trees at the Mabi site which would remove 637 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years.

Olsen noted “TTNQ partnered with Reforest four years ago to connect members to Tropical North Queensland forest restoration projects for business or consumer contributions.

“The Reforest activities provide carbon removal which we use to mitigate the impact of our visiting media and trade familiarisation programs.

“Our business events program encourages conferences and incentive groups to use Reforest to assist with delivering a sustainable event.  

“TTNQ purchased 270 trees to remove the carbon emissions of delegates attending the incentive event Australia Next 2024 in Cairns which brought the world’s leading business events buyers to our region in September.

“The Reforest dashboard shows the progress of the restoration with 18 TTNQ members planting 5,639 trees to date.

“Our annual planting day is a great opportunity for the industry to see the impact the program is having on the ground, hear from Terrain NRM, plant a few trees and if we are lucky, we will spot a tree kangaroo.”

Reforest Chief Executive Daniel Walsh said the partnership with the tourism industry is a showcase example of leading organisations within a destination coming together, under the TTNQ banner, to invest in the natural assets that tourism depends upon.  

“Consumers want to feel that they are leaving their destination better than they found it, and they expect to see the tourism businesses they engage with to be playing an active role in that,” Walsh added.

“This program enables visitors to see a consistent theme of ecosystem restoration throughout the destination, and our platform lets them feel some ownership over that positive impact.”  

Terrain NRM Chief Executive, Stewart Christie said Mabi forest was a critically endangered forest type only found on the Atherton Tablelands.  

“Mabi forest was extensively cleared after European settlement for timber and agriculture with only about 4% of the original forest remaining and much of it in small, fragmented pockets on private land.

“This has serious long-term implications for the genetic variability of species that live in this habitat, and their ability to resist extinction.   

“Reforest is helping to support on-ground activities to extend and reconnect Mabi forest to make it stronger and more resilient to threats like climate change.”

More information on the Reforest dashboard

Image: Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s (from left) Tara Bennett, Corrinne Singleton, Kirsty Boase, Brittany Nash and Harriet Ganfield joined the Reforest planting day helping to restore tree kangaroo habitat.

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