Rolling out Results
It has been a bit of a hiatus here from the writing, but not from the working!
I'm extremely pleased to announce that we have published our second article on invasive alien plant clearing in the Western Cape. Specifically... in the Berg River! (The article is free for a limited time, so click on the hyperlink to download a pdf :-)
Similarly to our previous paper, we emphasize that Working for Water's current approach to clearing invasive alien plants needs to be re-evaluated and likely overhauled. Despite 13 years of investment in clearing the Berg River watershed, pines are still all over the place and the fynbos hasn't fully recovered. The reasons for this include lack of specific objectives, uncoordination among agencies, a short-term funding model, and inefficient techniques.
This is not a trivial issue. We have two more papers that are nearly ready to submit for publication. One is our assessment of the last 20 years of alien plant control in the Kruger National Park (although this effort has actually been around for much longer). The main problem plants are cacti, water weeds, and some terrestrial weedy species that produce tons of seed, spread rapidly, and form dense thickets. Turns out that it is really difficult to assess exactly how well control has succeeded, because the planning, funding sources, and control methods are not well documented or prioritized.
Our other paper involves an effort to remove bass (which are alien fish here) and invasive plants from a mountain river. Again, similar findings apply.
We can only expect to restore these ecosystems, and keep them that way, if we prioritize, set realistic objectives, and follow through with them to ensure long-term viability.
I am sure South Africa is not alone in this situation.
In other news, yes, I am still volunteering with the Volunteer Wildfire Services! Despite the fact that fires are necessary for fynbos, the extreme increase in frequency mainly due to arson fires is not good for long-lived seeding species like Proteas.
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