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Afrikaanse Inligting
Overburning
Last year I spent a week investigating the potential for a wildflower harvesting industry in the Herbertsdale portion of the Langeberg, largely in the region between Cloetes Pass and the Attakwaskloof. The area is scenically spectacular and sparsely populated, but is nevertheless being heavily impacted by large scale burning of the veld. A number of people who have worked in the area have recently confirmed my impressions that this area has been particularly hard hit by what is evidently a "traditional" farming practice – the burning of the veld as often as possible in order to stimulate a "green bite" for the cattle that are put out to pasture in the high mountains during the summer. In many areas, the cattle farmers are burning the veld at least once every four years, and sometimes as often as every second year. As one can imagine, the longer-lived, reseeding species are now all but extinct in these areas, with huge areas now dominated by sedges, grasses, and Common Sunshine Conebush - Leucadendron salignum. Species diversity is being hammered, with the loss of many showy, marketable species such as Narrow-leaf - Protea neriifolia, Common Shuttlecock Sugarbush - Protea aurea, Common Sugarbush - Protea repens, Phaenocoma prolifera and various Syncarpha (Everlasting) species.
What is being gained? Marginal grazing for a relatively small number of cattle, at the cost of a sustainable product that could benefit the local community directly, and via ecotourism (trails through the mountains, mountain cottage accommodation, etc.). Another negative is that many of the once pristine mountain streams are now contaminated by cattle dung and diseases such as Giardia. Where the slow-growing vegetation on the northern slopes is being burnt too regularly, there is also a soil erosion issue, as on the road to Woeska. I have not checked to see whether the farmers apply for and receive permits to burn their land from the Dept. of Agriculture, but I somehow doubt that this scale of burning is officially approved. If this is the case, are the Agricultural Extension Officers failing to enforce the laws? The situation in the area needs to be addressed as soon as possible if anybody wants to see anything other than a degraded, grassy Fynbos in this area.
Nick Helme, Scarborough
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