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Table Mountain National Park

Alien Clearing

One of the biggest threats to the biodiversity of the Table Mountain National Park is the presence of alien invasive plant species, in particular adult, woody seed-bearing alien invasive plants such as Port Jackson, Rooikrans, Wattle, Hakea, Pine and Blue Gum.

These trees have several negative impacts on the fynbos ecosystem:

  • They impact negatively on the hydrology of an area and use up precious water supplies (i.e. interfere with waterways)
  • They destabilise river banks
  • They are vigorous growers and out compete indigenous species
  • They destroy the balance of habitats and therefore impact negatively on indigenous fauna
  • In some cases their seeds lie dormant for 70 -100 years resulting in continuous and dense re-growth
  • They are very flammable and cause frequent and very hot fires.

For the reasons listed above alien clearing has been a core part of TMNP’s biodiversity management.

The alien clearing programme is undertaken in partnership between the TMNP and Working for Water – an Expanded Public Works Programme implemented by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF).

To date, TMNP has cleared 85% of these species and is constantly engaged in the follow-up clearing of regrowth.

Other alien clearing initiatives are being undertaken in the indigenous Afromontane forests. There are around 360 alien plants in Newlands forest alone – most of them invasive. These aliens are garden escapees such as Chinese Privet and Eugenia and pose a real threat to the natural diversity of the forests. In order to stem this deadly tide of growth 10 individuals from the Hangberg Community in Hout Bay have been recruited and trained to specialize in alien clearing in forested areas. This includes the ability to distinguish between alien and indigenous seedlings.

 



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