Timber iQ February - March 2019 // Issue: 42 | Page 7

NEWS
Reviving Tsitsikamma’s
wetlands
A century-old decision to drain the Tsitsikamma wetlands has
resulted in grave damage.
www.timberiq.co.za
T
he Tsitsikamma region was once home to
impressive wetlands. Those days are
returning thanks to an ambitious project
restoring the natural order to this area,
conserving water and helping local
communities.
Tsitsikamma is a colloquialism for ‘clear
water’ and the region stands up to that claim.
But roll back the clock for just over a century
and it was even more impressive with wetlands
spanning alongside the local mountains.
Wetlands are not a common sight in South
Africa, taking up less than 3% of its surface
area. Yet they are crucially important in
maintaining the natural ecosystem and without
them serious problems, including loss of water,
start to occur.
This was not known in 1917 when a planting
project was started to meet the country’s timber
needs. The intention was good - doing so
safeguarded hectares of indigenous forests. But
large areas of wetlands were drained to make
space for the trees and such destructive
activities have taken their toll, halving South
Africa’s percentage of wetlands.
“Wetland degradation also creates other
problems,” explains Jan Huyser, environmental
manager at the MTO Group. “The wetlands
functioned as a floodplain for the water
captured by the mountains. Once they were
drained, that flow narrowed, eventually creating
a donga that is clawing its way upstream.”
Wetlands are essentially transition areas
between dry land and bodies of water. They
include high water tables, fertile soils, aquatic
plants and plenty of wildlife. As such, they act
as water filters, feed underground aquifers and
reduce erosion. Despite their scarcity, wetlands
are crucial for sustaining water. They are also
highly valuable to local communities for water
access, livestock grazing and recreational uses.
The implications of wetland draining
eventually resulted in the 1975 RAMSAR
Wetland Convention. But the damage had been
done. Then when MTO took over the
Tsitsikamma lease in 2005, it decided to launch
a rehabilitation project. The project has two
Large areas of wetlands were drained to make space for the
plantations in 1917.
prongs to attack the problem: the removal of alien plants and
addressing historical damage, such as plugging drainage ditches and
reducing erosion impact.
Parts of the project involves impressive engineering endeavours,
such as gabions (mesh cages filled with rocks) and weirs (low-level
dams to encourage water retention), as well as eco logs to block
human-made drainage channels.
To date, excluding training, logistics and certain infrastructure, MTO
has spent over R11.5-million on the restoration. It also recognised that
some wetland problems originate further upstream and has for the
past few years rehabilitated a Tsitsikamma tributary river, located on
Fingo tribal land belonging to the Mfengu community. In total, the
project has laid down 1 818m 3 of gabion structures and 349m 3 of
concrete structures, installed over 75 eco logs and cleared
145.5 hectares of invasive species. Overall 2 882m 2 of wetland
banks have already been restored.
“Sustainability is very important to us, particularly in a country with
so few water resources,” says Lawrence Polkinghorne, CEO of the MTO
Group. “Water is a very precious resource and we all have a role to play
in its conservation. MTO is committed to environmental sustainability,
we see it as a ticket to the game.”
// FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019
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