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WE WISH ALL OUR
MEMBERS AND
ASSOCIATES A GREEN
2009 AND WE LOOK
FORWARD TO ALL
MEMBERS BEING
INVOLVED WITH OUR
ACTIVITIES DURING
2009 |
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We are well into a new calendar year and only a
month away from the end of our financial year. Our
AGM will be on Thursday 7 May 2009 at 20h00
in the Rietvlei Education Centre. Please diarise
this date now. More details about the meeting in our
next newsletter. |
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World Wetlands Day – 2 February 2009 |
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The theme this year is “Upstream, Downstream,
wetlands connect us all”. |
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Wetlands (rivers, lakes, marshes and floodplains)
capture, store and transport and purify water. Water
that leaves a wetland is always cleaner than the
water which enters it. Wetlands also help to prevent
flooding disasters and they create a home for a rich
diversity of animals and plants. Wetlands play a
vital role in the water cycle, they are our “water
connectors” which keep us supplied with water, so it
is very important to look after and protect them. |
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All over the world wetlands are fading quickly. They
are the most endangered ecosystems on our planet. We
have to preserve wetlands. People around the world
are relying on wetlands for their spiritual,
cultural and economic well-being. A special
international treaty, The Ramsar Convention on
Wetlands, has been established by governments to try
to preserve wetlands worldwide. |
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Our local wetland is Rietvlei Wetland Reserve.
Rietvlei contains a wide diversity of habitats where
a large variety of bird species can be found. With
the gradual removal of alien vegetation, Strandveld
flora is flourishing. This area is so ecologically
valuable it must be preserved at all costs. |
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There are many threats to the Rietvlei Wetland
Reserve. These include runoff from agricultural
areas, which could contain harmful chemicals found
in fertilisers, factory spillages and waste water,
contaminated storm water from urban areas, informal
settlements, which can be the cause of poorly
treated sewerage and littering, urban developments
which disturb the habitats of many animals, fires,
alien plants which are very invasive. Because
wetlands are all connected, human activities, good
or bad, that occur upstream of the river will also
affect the downstream areas. |
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Walks & Talks |
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Our end of the year function on 20 November 2008 was
well-attended. The students reported on their
various projects they had done on Rietvlei and at
the BCA; there was also a presentation by Koos
Retief on the Milnerton Conservation Area. |
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Then, on the following Sunday afternoon we had a
walk in the Milnerton Conservation Area. There were
about 30 people present, and we were accompanied by
Koos Retief and Jeremy Keyser, the Environmental
Conservation Manager for the area. It was a pleasant
and extremely interesting outing, the pictures can
be seen on our website and on the Royal Ascot
website (www.royalascot.co.za). |
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NEXT EVENING TALK: This will be held on
Thursday 26 February at the Rietvlei Education
Centre, off Grey and Sandpiper Roads, Table View, at
7.30 for 8.00pm. Our guest speaker will be Simon
Lielcock who has spent many weekends exploring rock
art along the West Coast & Cedarber with fellow
experts. His talk on Rock Art should be most
interesting. Invite anyone interested and please
join us for an update on Rietvlei’s happenings and
the talk by Simon. |
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NEXT WALK : We will meet on Sunday 8 March at
3pm to walk around Zoarvlei (Paarden Eiland
wetlands) Please meet at the vlei end of Milner Road
in Metro Industrial Area. Turn off Marine Drive at
the traffic lights near the Boot Sale site. Phone
Pat on 021 5573748 or Nelis on 082 777 5708 if you
need further details. |
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Arrivals and Departures |
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Two new students have started their practical study
year at Rietvlei Wetland Reserve. They are Cleo
Schroeder, who is in her 3rd year of Fish
Resource Management, and Noxolo Sidzumo who
is in her third year of nature conservation. Both
are studying at Cape Peninsula University of
Technology. Cleo had an unfortunate accident whilst
fighting a fire in the area, and burnt her ankle
when she stepped into a mole hole. We wish her a
speedy recovery! |
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Sandiso Kraai, our very enthusiastic
conservator managing the Diep River corridor has
also left and it with some sadness that we had to
say farewell to him. Sandiso was appointed to the
job nearly two years after the Friends had obtained
funding from the Table Mountain Fund for the
position for a period of two years. Over the last
two years Sandiso had made tremendous progress in
improving the condition of the Diep River Corridor –
most of the alien vegetation in the area has been
cleared, huge amounts of rubble has been removed,
and the problem with quad bikes and off-road
vehicles has largely been solved. Most important,
Sandiso managed to raise an awareness of
conservation importance of the area in the local
communities, many of whom cross the corridor daily
on their to and from work. |
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Sad as we are at losing Sandiso, we are also proud
of his achievement in obtaining a scholarship to
Stellenbosch University to study for a degree course
in Community Development in the Agriculture Faculty.
His studies start this month and we wish Sandiso
Kraai every success. |
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The committee of Friends of Rietvlei is now in
discussion with TMF and the City of Cape Town to
find a new arrangement to fund a conservator to work
in the Diep River corridor for a year. It is hoped
that these arrangements will be completed shortly
and that an advert will go out for the post. It is
most important that the work that Sandiso started
continues. |
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ESTUARY MANAGEMENT PLAN |
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The final public meeting for the Diep River Estuary
Management Plan was held in the Blaauwberg Council
Chamber on 8 December. Dr Lynne Jackson presented
the proposals of the three working groups that had
been established as reported in our previous
newsletter. |
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The way forward is that the final report is
presented to the Blaauwberg Subcouncil of the City
of Cape Town (on 19 Feb 2009) as a formal management
proposal for the Diep River Estuary. If the plan is
implemented as proposed, we should see an
improvement in water quality in the estuary, not
immediately but over time, as well as the
amelioration of the dust problem on the central pan
during the late summer months. One of the important
proposals is that the Rietvlei Management Working
Group, on which the Friends is also represented,
will be officially responsible for overseeing the
implementation of the Estuary Management Plan. To
mark the commencement of the implementation phase of
the Diep River EMP the C.A.P.E. Estuaries Programme
recently advertised a call for proposals from
consultants to tender for the implementation of the
EMP. We look forward to this further appointment. |
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Rietvlei Visitor Facility Upgrading |
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The upgrading of the visitor facilities at Rietvlei
was delayed when the procurement procedures of the
Municipality took longer than was anticipated.
However, our reserve manager Koos Retief assures us
that materials have now been procured and the
various items are being manufactured. Installation
should thus be in the near future. Apart from
benches and braai facilities, work will also start
on the construction of the boardwalk to the new bird
hide. It has been frustrating to see the new bird
hide but not to be able to access it!! Once the
boardwalk is in place we will arrange a walk to
“open” it!! |
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Rainfall at Rietvlei |
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The monthly rainfall figures for
Rietvlei from 2002 to 2008 are
as follows: |
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2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
January |
57.9 |
3.5 |
8.0 |
16.0 |
1.0 |
1.5 |
4.0 |
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February |
10.0 |
6.0 |
0.9 |
4.0 |
7.0 |
19.5 |
6.0 |
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March |
10.1 |
32.2 |
7.0 |
14.5 |
4.0 |
15.0 |
4.0 |
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April |
29.9 |
10.9 |
79.5 |
69.5 |
27.2 |
45.5 |
10.0 |
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May |
38.6 |
22.2 |
2.3 |
54.1 |
104.0 |
42.5 |
44.0 |
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June |
62.8 |
13.1 |
66.8 |
83.3 |
25.5 |
127.7 |
67.0 |
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July |
69.5 |
27.3 |
65.8 |
38.0 |
64.2 |
96.0 |
116.0 |
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August |
66.9 |
81.1 |
45.5 |
74.0 |
45.0 |
86.0 |
68.5 |
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September |
19.5 |
53.8 |
17.8 |
30.0 |
12.0 |
34.0 |
4.0 |
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October |
33.7 |
25.3 |
119.0 |
9.8 |
20.5 |
22.0 |
2.0 |
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November |
13.2 |
2.8 |
3.0 |
9.8 |
31.0 |
30.0 |
46.0 |
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December |
20.1 |
15.5 |
6.5 |
0.0 |
4.5 |
22.0 |
19.0 |
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Total: |
432.2 |
303.7 |
421.9 |
402.9 |
341.4 |
541.7 |
390.5 |
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| Thanks go to Chevron Refinery for
sponsoring envelopes for the posted newsletter. |
