REFOREST NOW
Our Story
ReForest Now was registered in 2018 with a mission to see large scale reforestation happen in Australian rainforests. We've brought a new wave of energy and passion to this field to see the distance between concept and action reduced to days instead of years. Our mission is not just to discuss our dreams of seeing the rainforests return, rather to get out there - achieve outcomes rapidly and report back to our partners. We are always ready and willing to take on the next big project.
We operate a rainforest nursery, tree planting, rainforest regeneration, maintenance, partnerships, scientific and administration teams. As such, we've been able to create a real not for profit that can meet all it's own service needs and thus genuinely achieve large scale outcomes without diluting the funding we receive from our partners.
In the end, we are here to enable people and businesses to not just have their voice heard, but to have Earth saving actions committed on their behalf with strong reporting, accountability and transparency for our supporters.
The Logo - what does it mean?
The logo is a scientific/art story. In a world of simple logos we wanted to create something different with embedded meaning.
Starting at the middle: At the centre of life is solar energy, there is no life without the sun. The energy of the sun then must meet with water to stimulate life. We sampled the blue from the appearance of the Earth from the famous image taken by Carl Sagan from the voyager spacecraft (known as the 'Pale Blue Dot'). From far in space, all one can see is the blue waters of our oceans.
From this water, autotrophs (that's plants and algae) can create energy, they are the first source of food energy on Earth, the ones who derive their life from water and the sun and feed life to all others.
Beyond them are the smaller life forms, the insects, the butterflies and the other essential smaller creatures who create the living biome. Note these small creatures are positioned in 12 hour clock positions. This is to demonstrate that as biodiversity is lost at the level of the insects that all biodiversity is at risk of collapse, as they disappear, time runs out for higher life. Thus we must watch and protect the web of life.
Finally our 'inverted Earth' is wrapped in an atmosphere of wooden trunks, to say that trees help to maintain the carbon balance and we should replant them to protect and hold our atmosphere, to help hold our Earth together.
ReForest Now was created and is now sustained by the need for a comprehensive not-for-profit model of reforestation and regeneration in Australia. Australia has fallen far behind many countries that are offering more attractive tree planting and restoration programs at one tenth of the price (at $1.00 per tree) compared to our Australian national average of $10.00 per tree.
What ReForest Now has done is bring the cost of diverse rainforest planting down to $5.00 per tree in Australia, which of course is a challenge given the hundreds of species we plant.
We do this not because it is easy but because we live on the driest continent on Earth and it is in desperate need of reforestation, thus we must find a way to encourage the repair of this part of the world, despite the high costs associated with every aspect of working here in Australia.
We cover a wide array of internal services without being compromised on price by external for-profit detours.
Staff cover the follow activities;
1. Seed collecting
2. Seed germination and plant propagation
3. Nursery construction and maintenance
4. Site inspection and landholder engagement
5. Rainforest regeneration
6. Weed drilling (including Camphor laurel)
7. Logistics of equipment, materials and vehicles
8. Augering (drilling holes for tree plantings)
9. Tree planting
10. Site maintenance/tree care
11. Report writing
12. Science production
13. Grant writing
14. Partnerships management
15. Financial management
16. Website management
17. Social media - Facebook and Instagram
18. Filming, interviews, podcasts and blogs
MEET THE TEAM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Maximo Bottaro
Cert III nar, Bsc, Bclin, Hons 1st
Josh Fryhall
Odin Runga-Covington
Vice President - Director of Youth
Director General
Co-Founder & CEO
Tashi Maizey
Director of Nursery Operations
and Nursery Manager
Kim O'Sullivan
Director General
PODCASTS AND INTERVIEWS
OUR CONTRACTORS
MAXIMO BOTTARO - CEO
KALLEN MARECIC - PARTNERSHIPS
TASHI MAIZEY - NURSERY & FIELD
JOSH FRY-HALL - LOGISTICIAN
CHLOE VINCENT - NURSERY & FIELD
MADELEINE WEST - OUTREACH
KATIE PRITCHARD - NURSERY 2IC
ROMEY VASSELL - SITE CARE MANAGER
LUKE PHILLIP - CENTURION
CHRIS SNOWDEN - LABOUR
STANISLAV MUET - MAINTENANCE
BRADLEY MAXWELL - APPRENTICE
NINA FITZGERALD - NURSERY & FIELD
LUKA MAIZEY - NURSERY & FIELD
JOEY VENABLES - EXPERT ADVISER AND TEAM LEADER
MARKO LEMO
TESS COTOGGIO
PIERRE ALBERTINI
JOHANNES BEER
STEPHEN FORSHAW