| EVENTS |
| Talk by
Bongani Mnisi on
Tuesday 18
September at 8pm |
| Heritage Day
talk and outing
on Monday 24
September at 9am |
| Meeting
place for the
above activities
is at
Eerstesteen,
Coastal Road,
between Big Bay
and
Melkbosstrand.
Contact Ena de
Villers on 076
335 1225 for
details and see
email and
website updates. |
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LAUNCH OF TABLE BAY NATURE
RESERVE |
|
The official launch of the Table
Bay Nature Reserve by the Mayor,
Alderman Patricia de Lille, on
27 June 2012, was the highlight
of the last few months. This was
also the official opening of the
long awaited new offices for the
reserve management at Rietvlei.
The event was attended by
various stakeholders and the
media, which received wide
coverage in the local press. |
|
The Table Bay Nature Reserve
(TBNR) comprises of a number of
sections: these are the Diep
River section north of the
Blaauwberg Road bridge and which
includes the Parklands Fynbos
Corridor; the Rietvlei section
which is the original Rietvlei
Wetland Reserve; the Coastal
section along the coast from
Dolphin Beach southwards past
Sunset Beach; Zoarvlei and the
Paarden Island wetlands; and
finally the Milnerton Racecourse
section in Royal Ascot. Each of
these sections have unique
management challenges, and with
the management staff under Koos
Retief now settling into their
new offices, we wish them well
in tackling these challenges. |
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EPWP TEAMS CLEARING ALIEN
VEGETATION |
|
Three EPWP (Expanded Public
Works Programme) teams have been
busy clearing woody alien
invasives and Typha capensis
reeds in various areas on the
reserve. Funding has also been
available to get a team in to
clear water hyacinth from the
Diep River system. The section
north of Otto du Plessis Bridge
on the R27 was particularly
badly infested. This team has
been active clearing water
hyacinth both north and south of
the bridge over the last few
months. The winter rains also
caused clumps of water hyacinth
to be washed into the lagoon.
Fortunately the team has been
dragging the floating mass out
of the water in the area between
the old Wooden Bridge and the
new concrete bridge. There were
fears that a massive build-up of
plant material against the
decaying bridge might cause the
bridge to collapse. |
|
The EPWP teams are providing a
large workforce, such that has
never been seen in the reserve
before. Whilst it has created
much additional supervisory work
for the permanent reserve staff,
it is wonderful to see fences
and fire breaks cleared, Port
Jackson and Rooikrans chopped,
kikuyu sprayed, water hyacinth
hauled out of the waterways and
mush more. |
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SUCCESS IN MANAGING EROSION ON
NORTH SHORE OF RIETVLEI |
|
One of the successful
interventions at Rietvlei has
been to arrest the erosion of
the north shore bank. Erosion,
caused by wave action, was
collapsing the bank west of the
entrance gate, and it was
originally suggested that
gabions should be used to
stabilise the bank. However, it
was felt that gabions may not
solve the problem, and that a
softer more natural approach
should be tried. The reed
Phragmites australis was planted
along the bank a few years ago,
and this year more reeds and
sedges were planted to augment
the reed beds. These appear to
be very effective in breaking
the wave action and allowing
grass and other vegetation to
stabilise the previously exposed
bank. |
|
A small eroding area was
similarly stabilised on the
Milnerton Lagoon/Golfcourse bank
recently. The work was
undertaken by the Golf Club
staff, under the guidance of
Koos Retief. |
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WESSA ANNUAL REGIONAL MEETING |
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WESSA Western Cape held its 64th
regional meeting at Intaka
Island on 16 August. In spite of
a rainy day and a cold evening,
the function was well attended,
including representatives from
Friends of Rietvlei, Friends of
BCA and Friends of Zoarvlei. |
|
Alan Liebenberg from Intaka
Island gave a brief presentation
on how Intaka Island came to be
formed; Mike Ward, Chief
Operations Officer of the
Wildlife and Environment
Society, told us about WESSA’s
national strategies; and the
local WESSA staff highlighted
the regional activities over the
past year. |
|
The annual awards for
contributions to environmental
conservation were presented to
various people and groups. WESSA
received over 30 nominations,
but only 11 awards in four
different categories were
issued. |
|
The guest speaker was Dr Carl
Palmer from ACCESS (Applied
Centre for Climate and Earth
System Science). ACCESS is a
community of scientists from a
range of natural and physical
science fields focusing on the
study of earth systems and their
dynamics. The presentation
entitled “How Biology affects
Climate” illustrated how climate
change over millions of years
had been induced by changes in
the biology on earth, most
notably by the spreading and
shrinking of vegetation cover
resulting in changes in the
earth’s average temperature. |
|
Dr Palmer did not mention this
in his presentation, but it did
highlight one of the major
dilemmas facing scientists
studying climate change today –
and this is quite simply to
distinguish between climate
change caused by natural changes
on earth, and that induced by
man. This is further complicated
by the fact that most scientists
acknowledge that at least part
of man’s contribution to climate
change can be regarded as
‘natural’. |
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS |
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Several of the applications for
which we submitted environmental
inputs are still on-going. The
biosolids beneficiation plant
proposed for the Vissershok area
is now proceeding to the next
stage where a full environmental
impact study has to be done. In
the draft basic assessment phase
three alternative sites for this
plant was identified. |
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Environmental authorisation was
issued for the Killarney
Junction development east of the
intersection between Blaauwberg
and Koeberg/Potsdam Roads – the
authorisation requires
stormwater detention ponds on
site which addresses our
concerns about possible impact
on the Diep River, and hence
into the sensitive seasonal pans
of Rietvlei. |
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The Gold Circle (land containing
the stables and training track
for racehorses, next to Koeberg
Road) development application
was re-advertised at the end of
July as the 30 months had lapsed
since the original application
for rezoning to subdivisional
area had been advertised. Royal
Ascot residents have objected to
the development. Friends of
Rietvlei is concerned about the
possible impact on the adjacent
Milnerton Racecourse section of
the Table Bay Nature Reserve –
our earlier proposal for
adequate buffer zones is still
on the table. |
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OUR INDIGENOUS GARDEN |
Our indigenous garden at the
bottom end of Grey Avenue is
improving gradually under Gail
McDonald’s keen attention. She
needs assistance and is still
looking for donations of
suitable plants or snips, as
well as any pair of hands keen
to help her in the garden. She
would also welcome watchful eyes
keeping the area free of damage
from dog-walkers and plant
thieves!! Have you visited the
labyrinth in the garden?
Contact Gail on 082 937 8759. |
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RIETVLEI CONTACT NUMBERS:
Environmental Education Centre – 021 521 9900
Emergencies and standby number - 071 268 9637 |
