Environmentalists caution landowners to be on the lookout for aggressive regeneration of invasive alien plants
SCLI: Drawing the curtain on a torrid year for the Southern Cape environment.
At a recent seminar on the state of the Southern Cape environment, hosted in Brenton-on-Sea (near Knysna), by the Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI), the spotlight was on how the region was affected by fire and drought during 2017.
The SCLI seminar, with Premier Helen Zille delivering a keynote address, drew the curtain on what was a torrid year for the Southern Cape environment. Although the headlines are still dominated by the severe wildfire, ravaging through Knysna and Pletterberg Bay, several other parts of the region suffered similar (devastating) fates.
In February 2017, 22 000 hectares of land burnt to a tinder in the Stilbaai/ Riversdale area. Many farmers lost their homes and infrastructure, with all dekriet (thatching reed) and grazing obliterated.
In the Stilbaai area, and as a result of the prevailing drought, grazing suitable for sheep and cattle, has still not recovered. Plants that did start sprouting in the spring withered away as a result of low rainfall and relentless sun in the cloudless skies.
Low rainfall figures
Rainfall figures in the Southern Cape, as is the case in the Western Cape, has been below normal. Farmers near Oudsthoorn and Herold were severely affected by the drought, and many farmers lost cattle and sheep as a result of too little food in the field.
Over and above the extraordinary veld fires recorded (such as those in and around Knysna), there were literally hundreds more fires burning down many more thousands of mountains, catchments and farmland.
There can be little doubt that there are climatic changes at play. The region is experiencing small changes in temperature, which end up having a profound effect on the prevalence, frequency and intensity of wildfire.
Instead of soft rain over extended winter and summer periods, rain now comes in episodic storms, often causing floods and failing to saturate soils and recharging groundwater supplies.
Preparing for 2018
With summer rains expected, long daylight hours and a hot summer sun, environmentalists caution landowners to be on the lookout for aggressive regeneration of invasive alien plants.
Once invasive plant regrowth passes knee-height, it becomes exponentially difficult (and expensive), to suppress.
The best time to address invasive alien regrowth (such as wattle and Rooikrans, is to address the problem while the plants are young with shallow root systems.
The Southern Cape Landowners Initiative (SCLI), is a public platform for landowners and land managers with an interest in the eradication and control of invasive alien plants, and the promotion of Water Evaporation Prevention (WEP) in the Garden Route. SCLI is supported by the Table Mountain Fund (TMF), a subsidiary of WWF SA.