SCRAPBOOK 1999
January-March

Cyclone Rhona struck on 15 February 1999, and local residents had only a two- hour warning! Luckily, it did no structural damage, but did rip out and smash a substantial number of trees, including some of our important fig trees. It took us two days to chain saw our way out - largely due to our breadfruit trees shattered across the road. The cyclone was very small in area, as it had its eye centered on the Daintree river, which suffered no damage. However, the westerly winds from the cyclone were focused by the mountains, and caused major damage with wind speeds of over 100 mph along the ridgelines, which included the Station. The canopy crane was only mildly damaged, but the canopy beneath it was shredded. We carried out an experiment following the cyclone, which involved cutting and poisoning vines in half of our rainforest area adjacent to the laboratory to evaluate the effect of vines on canopy reconstitution. The results have not yet been evaluated, but the areas with vines removed are showing very healthy canopy regeneration compared to the other (control) forested areas.