Restoration practitioners from across the Wet Tropics gathered at James Cook University’s Nguma-Bada campus in Smithfield for the Wet Tropics Restoration Alliance Networking Event last week.
Hosted at The Cairns Institute Lecture Theatre, the day brought together a strong and diverse cross-section of the restoration community — conservation groups, researchers, industry, technologists and regional organisations including C4, TREAT, Rainforest Rescue, JCU, Terrain NRM, DETSI and the Wet Tropics Management Authority.
Setting the Direction
The event opened with a Welcome to Yirrganydji Country by Traditional Owner Gavin Singleton, followed by opening remarks from facilitator Kylie Freebody.
Chair of the Wet Tropics Restoration Alliance Steering Group Peter Rowles then introduced the members of the new ASG and presented the 2026 Workplan, outlining the Alliance’s focus for the year ahead. Key elements of the 2026 Workplan include:
- More opportunities to meet, network and share learnings among members
- Development and improvement of restoration tools and products based on member feedback
- Progressing a sustainable funding model
- Development of a regional restoration project database
- Updating priority restoration maps and online mapping tools
- Strengthening nursery production collaboration, including guidelines and seed collection support
- Refreshing the Alliance website
From Nursery Production to Spatial Mapping
The morning sessions included an open forum where members shared updates, opportunities and concerns, followed by facilitated workshops in the JCU Ideas Lab.
Five concurrent discussion topics were explored:
- Nursery production materials
- Restoration project database
- Priority restoration maps and online mapping tools
- Keeping project records and monitoring outcomes
- Research needs
Across multiple groups, one theme rose consistently to the surface: the need for data.
Participants discussed the need for consistent regional data capture to understand what has been planted, where, when, and at what scale. The proposed regional restoration project database would provide high-level spatial visibility of projects across the Wet Tropics, while discussions around monitoring focused on recording costs, activities and long-term outcomes to better understand restoration effectiveness.
There was strong recognition that while an enormous amount of work has been undertaken across the region, much of its value is difficult to see without consolidated spatial datasets and shared standards.
Data, Mapping and Learning
In the afternoon session, presentations deepened this theme.
Professor Susan Laurance from JCU spoke about research projects and collaboration, highlighting the importance of translating research findings into practical application for restoration practitioners.
Presentations also covered community-designed adaptation plans for threatened species, LiDAR measurement in forest restoration and nature repair, and scaling up restoration work through Traditional Owner-led initiatives.
The LiDAR session, presented by Keith Cook and Abbey Yatsko of ArborMeta, in particular reinforced the growing role of advanced spatial technologies in measuring canopy structure, biomass and restoration progress — further underscoring the day’s strong focus on capturing better data and learning from it.
Building a Stronger Restoration Community
Beyond the formal sessions, the real value of the day lay in connection — conversations over morning tea, movement between workshops, and informal collaboration across sectors.
The Restoration Alliance continues to play an important convening role, creating structured spaces for practitioners, researchers, government agencies and technologists to align around shared priorities.
