Platbos forest rehabilitation · Forest Rehabilitation in Platbos
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Forest Rehabilitation in Platbos
Forest Rehabilitation in Platbos
The Tsitsikamma is an ancient forest. The Podocarpus genus (Yellowwood) is possibly as old as 105 million years, and some of the Tsitsikamma's most famous yellowwood trees are between 600 and 800 years old. Palaeontological evidence suggests the forests on South Africa's coast have existed for 20 thousand years. It is not suprising that the Tsitsikamma is a slow growing forest that struggles to recover once it is reduced.
Many factors play a role in the shrinking of the forest, including climate change over millenia which favoured savannah grassland and fynbos vegetation to weather the arid climate. Currently the Tsitsikamma rainforest survives on a fraction of the precipitation the world's other temeperate rainforests need. Deforestation and the introduction of exotic plants by colonialists also placed the forests under pressure. Even now, while the forests of South Africa's Garden Route are protected Parks, exotic plants like the Blue Gum and Australian wattles continue to consume most of the water in the soil and, growing much faster, crowd out indigenous species.
Also, the pioneer vegetation of the Tsitsikamma forest is Cape fynbos, which consists of obligate seeders and which needs fire to germinate. Since the trees in the Tsitsikamma forest lose their lower branches as they reach the forest canopy, the forest is largely fire resistant. Fire, however, endangers the young trees on the forest edges. If this forest nursery burns down with every fynbos fire, the forest cannot advance.
Forest rehabilitation is therefore a long-term project that is very labour-intensive. It involves firstly attending to the health of existing forest by clearing it of invasive plant species. Secondly, pioneer and nurse vegetation must be planted or protected. These plants on the edge of the forest prepare the soil for saplings, and faster growing indigenous trees, like the keurboom, offer saplings shade under which they flourish. The forest nursery should also be protected from the Western Cape's aggressive fires, by maintaining firebreaks.
All those involved in Platbos Reserve's conservation and rehabilitation effort realise that they will not see the results of their efforts in their own lifetime.
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Platbos Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.