Alien Vegetation Management, June 2024

Alien Vegetation Management, June 2024

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Outreach

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Report by Karen Hart, June 2024

Background

On the weekends in 2019, we started clearing the Port Jackson below Boyes Drive with my Gardeners, Geoffrey and Mussa. We cleared from Lakeside to Old Boyes Drive. Our plan was to start on the mountain in 2020, but due to Covid-19 and illness in July 2020, that wasn’t to be.
Jay Cowen of Friends of Silvermine Nature Area (FOSNA), put me in touch with Silindile Sosibo of SANParks, based at the Silvermine office. A permit was issued in September 2021 and so Geoffrey and I started on the mountain. There was a tunnel of trees over the stairs leading to the old reservoirs and towering trees with litter along the climber’s path. We then got stuck in going every Tues, spending a lot of time around the large rock opposite no.28. The trees towered above us and it was so dense that we had to cut our way forward, with areas of no Fynbos, just sand.
In March 2022, 11 people committed to paying R300 a month for 6 or 12 months to be reviewed, with one family offering R1200 per month for a year. Additionally, the Trails Club of South Africa contributed R1800 as part of its environmental contribution. This has been phenomenal and a real game changer – knowing that we have regular gardeners who we can rely on and who work well has helped us clear the mountainside in what seemed an almost impossible task. Some of our volunteers are there week after week, the commitment has been amazing. In what was quite an overwhelming task, we are eating the elephant bit by bit. We have just kept working away – every tree down is one less to flower and seed. Our main method of removal has been to cut and apply herbicide (with a squeeze bottle, not spraying) to the cut stump. Trees have varied from 10mm to >100 mm, so working with loppers, hand saws, poppers and for the very large trees a chain saw.
We did our first follow up hack on the mountain in November 2022, the Fynbos was looking absolutely beautiful, with the Watsonias which were previously smothered, flowering on the slopes. The yellow pincushion proteas, previously not visible, were flourishing all the way along Boyes Drive. The area is now at a manageable level and can be maintained with follow ups every 3 to 6 months. Walking up the Steenberg Plateau path is now a pleasure; one is no longer walking through a tunnel of Port Jackson.
We then did a follow up below Boyes Drive, clearing the section between the road and private homes. In some cases homeowners actually had Port Jackson growing in their gardens, we have cut them down and treated the stumps for these home owners.
In March 2023, Friends of Silvermine Nature Area (FOSNA), agreed to help fund our project to the amount of R1200 per month. This has allowed us to continue our work every Tuesday with our 3 Gardeners. The plot adjacent to Stonehurst between Boyes Drive and Westlake Avenue was the focus between March and June.
On the mountain side of the firebreak we had to deal with trees which required chain saw work. The Port Jackson on the plot was so tall and dense that there were actually a number of people living in various parts of the plot.
After doing a presentation to the students at Peterbridge College in Westlake they joined us in the field for practical work. As part of the student’s projects / commitment to environmental awareness and management, Peter Tyldesley, has arranged that the students will continue to look after the plot with regard to follow ups as seeds from the existing seedbank germinate.
The Trails Club of South Africa (TCSA) also gave their commitment for the 2024 financial year, sponsoring a gardener and helping to cover equipment costs. I am also very grateful to the other 9 individuals who continue to assist by sponsoring a gardener and contributions towards equipment so that the project, which costs about R6000 per month, can continue and to those volunteers who join us week after week. Your contribution is amazing and because of you, the Fynbos on the mountain is recovering so well.
In mid-June 2023, we started clearing above the Silvermine Naval Base and Stonehurst near the Upper Westlake Reservoir, off Ou Kaapse Weg where we worked until December. The work to be done in the area is extensive with an alarming level of coppicing (trees previously cut and not treated correctly, which have sent out additional shoots) so now we have 6 to 8 stems to cut instead of one.
In Jan 2024 we did some follow ups around the old reservoir above Old Boyes Drive, opposite no 28 and opposite the guard rail further north, some regrowth, new plants, but can now be managed.
In Feb 2024 we did some follow ups on corner of Boyes Drive & Westlake Ave as well as below the firebreak.
What took us a year to clear will take a few months when doing the follow up and then a few weeks on the 2nd follow up, then a few days in 2- 3 year’s time to manage the area.
The time worked form March 2023 to Feb 2024 is 1718 Hours, which equates to 215×8 hour days
The Cape Peninsula Fynbos is the smallest of the 6 Biomes, with the greatest diversity of plant species in the world and if that isn’t worth conserving then what is?
The Nbals detailed in yellow are what SANParks have allocated to us for their 2024-2025 financial year. We started on Nbal 085 on the mountain side of the firebreak and along the Stonehurst fence in May. We will be busy there for a while with some huge and medium sized trees to be felled and treated.
If you would like to volunteer your time by joining us on a Tuesday morning,
Pls contact Karen Hart, on 0832884718