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“ There is a lot of land left in that area to restore . There are a few other landowners and organisations in the broader Uilenkraal Valley landscape that have reforestation projects in the pipeline and we fully acknowledge that most of the valley is fynbos so we are trying to bring everyone together to come up with a consolidated strategy for the valley ( what areas should be restored to forest and which areas should be restored to fynbos ) moving forward so that we can be sure that we are not reforesting where we shouldn ’ t be .”
Paleoecology researchers from UCT are working on this , and heading the research is professor in plant conservation in the Department of Biological Sciences , Lindsey Gillson .
Figure 3 : Bodhi Khaya Nature Retreat . ( Image : Greenpop )
of the forest would take over the fynbos land and there is this kind of dance that goes on over the centuries ,” she explains .
Determining where the borders of forest and fynbos start and end in a mosaic area makes the restoration process more challenging , but by using as many resources as possible , from historical Geographic Information System maps , to talking to residents who have been in the area for a long time , Greenpop can get a good idea of what the area looked like before and how best to restore it .
“ One of the things we also always look at as well are existing forests , the topography and patterns of growth in an area . In most of the places that we work there are existing patches of indigenous forest that have been conserved over time , so we often work on the edges of those forests ,” Gauld-Angelucci says .
“ We also have to look towards the future and say , well , we are living in an age of climate change so we also need to be thinking about the fact that climates are going to be getting warmer and what vegetation is going to be sustainable in areas marked for restoration when it is one degree or 1.5 degrees hotter .”
Platbos Forest Reserve restoration project
Greenpop has been working on a restoration project with the Platbos Forest Reserve in Uilenkraal Valley in the Overberg for 10 years . Platbos is an ancient indigenous forest – the trees are about 1,000 years old – as well as the southernmost forest in Africa .
Owners Francois and Melissa Krige began restoring the land 15 years ago when alien vegetation surrounding the forest began to pose a fire risk .
The Kriges did this by finding seedlings in the indigenous forest , growing them in their nursery and when they were old enough , planting the trees in the area cleared of alien vegetation .
Gauld-Angelucci says the Kriges recently finished clearing the alien trees from the indigenous forest after 15 years .
Greenpop came along in 2011 and started running festivals in Platbos every year , bringing in hundreds of people to help with the reforestation .
“ For the most part Greenpop has been helping by filling in gaps in Platbos and have planted exactly 85,645 trees in that forest so far , including white milkwoods , white stinkwood , wild olives … all the indigenous
trees that exist in the forest already , and we plant them in an interesting way : we dig pits and those pits get filled with mulch and the trees get planted around the pits in groups because that is the way the trees grow within the forest on their own .
“ Generally , a tree will die , fall over and rot and then lots of little trees will start growing around it because the dying tree provides nutrients and an all-round conducive space to grow for the new trees , and we try to recreate that environment .”
Grootbos Private Nature Reserve restoration project
Restoration is ongoing , so much so that Gauld-Angelucci hopes that Greenpop will be able to say that full restoration will be complete in 100 years .
Gillson says they are using markers such as fossilised pollen and charcoal in soil samples to determine the ecological history of various sites in the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve , which is also in the Western Cape ’ s Overberg region .
“ While [ global treeplanting drives ] can have benefits if carefully planned and managed , there is also a risk that afforestation on ancient open , grassy and mosaic landscapes can be bad for biodiversity and ecosystem services .”
Grootbos is a mosaic landscape comprising predominantly fynbos and only patches of forest , but Gillson says “ forest restoration is nevertheless an important element in the management of Grootbos and so understanding the history of forest in terms of forest extent and composition is therefore important in guiding restoration that is ecologically appropriate ”.
In paleoecology ( the study of the interactions between plants , animals and past environments ), different indicators
23 Grassroots Vol 21 No 4 December 2021