Friends of Rietvlei
Member of the Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa Western Cape Region
Newsletter July 2011
****YOU ARE INVITED TO A GARDEN PARTY***
We are having a Garden Party at our Indigenous Garden at the Table View entrance to the Rietvlei Wetland Reserve. The Garden Party will be in two parts – there is some weeding and tidying to be done first to help us beautify our garden where a variety of indigenous plants were recently planted. Then - a time to relax with your picnic tea. Please wear a hat for the garden party, bring your gardening gloves and tools for weeding, as well as a folding chair and your refreshments to share.
Meet at the Rietvlei end of Grey Avenue,at 15h00 on Sunday, 17 July 2011.
EVERYBODY WELCOME
PLEASE CONTACT Gail on 0829378759 if you require further information.
EVENTS
With this cold weather people seem to prefer to be tucked up at home than going out to evening talks. However our sister organisation, Friends of Blaauwberg Conservation Area, invites us to:
Talk: Black Oyster Catcher Trail
Date: 26 July 2011 at 8pm
Place: Log cabin at Eerstesteen Resort, coast road between Big Bay and Melkbosstrand

Matt Weisse, a member of “Friends of Iziko Museum” and “Friends of Paarden Eiland Wetlands” will present his photographic talk on the Black Oyster Catcher Trail just north of Melkbos. He is also a registered SA Tour Guide Member, involved with education programs for school children and other programs such as “Historic Tunnels below the City of Cape Town”, “Moonlit Ghost Tour in an Old Fort” and “The Hysterical Heritage Hunt”. Please feel welcome to come and hear this interesting talk!!
Six members turned up for our Beach Walk on World Environment Day, Sunday 5 June, and we filled six refuse bags with mostly plastic litter from the beach. The weather was a bit blustery and we did not walk all the way to Sunset Beach, but it was an enjoyable and productive afternoon, with that magnificent view of Table Mountain across the bay.
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
A few months ago we regularly had news about various impact assessment studies that we were commenting on in the newsletter, but the last month we have been very quiet about this. If you are wondering why, it is just that there have been no new developments on these fronts.
We are still waiting to hear from the Minister of Environment Affairs & Local Government in response to our appeal against the expansion of Potsdam WWTW – in August it will be a year since we submitted the appeal. We can only hope that the long delay means that they are seriously considering the important issues we raised.
The appeal against certain conditions of the authorisation for the development of the Gold Circle property adjacent to the Milnerton Racecourse Nature Reserve is also still pending.
We submitted comments for two other assessment studies in our area, one was an application by Chevron to consolidate their waste management facility, and the other was an application to develop a leachate treatment facility at the Vissershok hazardous waste management site. In both cases we could support the proposals together with the conditions recommended by the environmental consultants to prevent environmental degradation. These reports have now both been submitted to the relevant authorities for environmental authorisation.
RIETVLEI CONTACT NUMBERS:
Environmental Education Centre – 021 521 9900
Entrance Gate – 021 557 5900
Emergencies and standby number 071 268 9637
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