Roger Graham, Friends of the Meadowridge Common chairman
Last week saw the beginnings of a rehabilitation project to restore elements of Cape Flats sand fynbos, which once covered more than two-thirds of the Cape Flats but of which less than one percent remains growing indigenously.
Meadowridge Common, being originally part of Bergvliet Farm, contains a vestige of its type.
In January 2022, the Friends of the Meadowridge Common applied to the Rowland and Leta Hill Trust for the funding of a project to rehabilitate part of the common by planting Cape Flats sand fynbos.
A study of the common by the City’s biodiversity management branch a few years before had assessed the whole area with respect to its conservation status. Some parts of the common were less degraded than others and suited the intervention of a controlled burn in order for the seedbanks to be stimulated as well as seed being spread from the fire itself. Other areas were graded as being in a poor condition and an active restoration programme would be the best way to rehabilitate the fynbos.
Fortunately the Hill Trust granted the Friends their request and Dr Caitlin von Witt, of FynbosLIFE, was approached to manage a restoration project in one of the areas that were badly degraded. In the year since May 2022, cuttings from plants from the common and other areas where the fynbos grows indigenously have been propagated for the purpose of planting them on the common in an area where for some decades alien grasses had taken over.
Last week, after good early winter rains, the City’s recreation and park’s ecological branch organised the felling of three pine trees and the use of a digger to clear out the alien grasses. In the areas within an excavated circle, thousands of plants will be introduced. Over time, they will grow to fill the planted areas. Paths will be laid between these beds and signs identifying the plants and their properties will be put up.
Through this initiative, the Friends hope that the value of the common as a conservation area will be enhanced. Dr Von Witt’s aim is to involve residents in the planting, and maintenance of the area will be managed by the Friends. We appreciate how much the City has provided us with assistance in the undertaking of this project.
If you would like to be part of planting out the propagated fynbos, you are welcome to come to the Meadowridge Common from 10am to noon on Friday June 23, Tuesday June 27 and Friday June 30. Take a trowel, gloves, and some refreshment.
