Australian woman planted 119,000 trees on cleared land; 10 years later, rainforest returns

Annie Schoenberger bought cleared land near Wonga Beach in Queensland, Australia, with a simple but ambitious goal of bringing rainforest back to a property once used for sugarcane. What followed was a decade-long restoration effort at her NightWings Rainforest Centre, where native trees were planted with the help of Rainforest Rescue, volunteers and supporters. More than 119,000 trees have now been planted across 18 hectares, gradually replacing the cleared agricultural landscape with young rainforest habitat. The project has also attracted native wildlife and helped restore wetland areas and improve water quality. In May 2026, the restoration reached another major milestone when the Queensland Government recognised the 18-hectare area as being of high nature conservation value, giving the recovering vegetation Category A protection under Queensland's vegetation management framework.From cleared sugarcane land to a young rainforestSchoenberger purchased the property in 2014 after much of the land had been cleared for sugarcane farming. She wanted to restore the landscape to lowland Daintree rainforest and create habitat for native wildlife. Restoration work began in 2015, followed...