Princess Vlei Forum
  • Home
    • Recent events
  • About the Forum
    • What you can do
    • Join the Forum
    • Constitution
    • Supporting organisations
  • About Princess Vlei
    • Natural Heritage >
      • Bringing the Vlei back to life
      • Powered by Nature
      • Birds at Princess Vlei
    • Identity: The Soul of Princess Vlei >
      • First nations
      • Cicilia
      • History
      • Baptisms
    • The struggle for Princess Vlei >
      • Dressing the Princess
      • Red Flag Vlei
      • Pray for the Vlei
      • Bring a stone for the Princess
      • Youth Speak 4 the Princess
  • Our Vision
    • A Community Vision
    • Stakeholder list
  • Events & Projects
  • Donate
  • Young Guardians
    • Flight of Dreams
  • Contact
  • Articles

Ripped up ....!

20/5/2021

0 Comments

 
The Forum is devastated by the damage done to the Princess Vlei eastern shoreline and restoration area.
On 6 May, concerned citizen Zoe Poulsen spotted an earth mover ripping up the shoreline vegetation and dumping the biomass on botanically sensitive areas - including a plot that was restored by the Forum last year as part of the community-led fynbos restoration project. 
    As Zoe had herself grown some of the plants for this restoration, she did not hesitate to stand in front of the machine until she could alert someone in authority to prevent further damage. Without her fortuitous presence and courage, the entire eastern shoreline and restoration area, including hundreds of plants put in by school learners, would have been destroyed. 
     However, the operator of the machine had already caused catastrophic ecological damage to the vlei (see area marked in red on the photograph below). 
Picture
This includes:
  • Destroying a restored plant community of 38 species that has cost the Princess Vlei Forum around R110 000.  This includes 110 established critically endangered Serruria foeniculacea and 14 established extinct in the wild Erica verticillata,
  • Probable local extinction of the last Psoralea aphylla on site
  • Destabilising 175 metres of shoreline near the outlet of the vlei by ripping up the reedbed and shoreline grass. This is likely to result in serious erosion and silting of the water body in the coming rains. 
  • Although the purpose of the operation was to clear water hyacinth, only 10% of the biomass removed was Hyacinth
    Although this is the most damaging, it is not the first incident. In 2018, a Western Leopard Toad breeding site was destroyed by a contractor removing water hyacinth. In 2019, a contractor dumped biomass on one of the older restoration sites, causing major damage to the plants. After this, a map was drawn up delineating where the machine could safely move and dump material, and the City undertook to inform the Forum’s biodiversity project manager, Denisha Anand, whenever the contractor was on site. Unfortunately, these protocols were not followed, leading to this tragic result. 
     The GPVCA forms part of the City of Cape Town’s biodiversity network, and the City is obliged to manage it as a biodiversity sensitive site, by agreement with Cape Nature. The area has  also recently been declared a Provincial Heritage Site in recognition of its biodiversity and cultural value. 
      As a biodiversity sensitive site, it is vital that utmost care be taken with mechanical operations on site. This act demonstrates an extreme lack of care. While the ward councillor and some officials have supported the restoration and revitalisation of the area, this is not upheld by the overall management of the site. Princess Vlei has suffered from chronic neglect, going back several decades to the apartheid era. This neglect continues, as the level of care and attention given remains far short of that given to equivalent areas in wealthy, formerly white areas in Cape Town. 
This incident highlights: 
  • The failure of the City to invest in and manage GPVCA as a biodiversity site.
  • The failure to take the Forum seriously as a community partner, despite the millions of rands raised by the Forum, countless volunteer hours and pro bono professional advice, and goodwill generated by the internationally recognised community-led restoration project.
We call on the City to
  • Ensure that this incident is properly investigated
  • Institute watertight protocols to ensure that this can never happen again
  • Invest resources to ensure that the damaged area is fully restored; 
  • Commit to ensuing that the site is adequately managed as a biodiversity sensitive site.   
This simply cannot be allowed to happen again.
  • Read a report by an independent aquatic specialist on the damage caused and how to fix it
  • Read  Daily Maverick report 
0 Comments

Bioblitz at Princess Vlei

5/5/2021

0 Comments

 
Princess Vlei contributed over 400 observations to Cape Town’s City nature challenge on Friday 30 April.
       The City Nature Challenge is an annual four-day ‘bioblitz'  to motivate people around the world to find and document wildlife in their cities. Although there is a friendly competition to see which city can gather the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people in the event, the 2021 City Nature Challenge will focus on the healing power of nature, and on celebrating the thousands of nature enthusiasts around the world documenting local biodiversity.
        At the Princess Vlei bioblitz, 440 observations were made by 38 observers, with 170 species identified. These included plants, birds, toads, and insects. 
      The event was supported by learners from the Brave organisation, and the Leisure Education Trust. Brave targets girls in the Manenberg area, and is aimed at building strong leadership amongst women. The girls were accompanied by Lee Ann Jenkins, who is employed by the organisation after volunteering for ten years. 
        ‘One of our focus areas is conservation and travel which includes adventure, that is how this comes in. These activities are great to help them feel more relaxed, and to enable them to get out of the community and see something different … this is my first time at Princess Vlei … I loved the whole vlei itself, and all the small living organisms.’
        Kiana Samuels, a grade 9 learner from Brave, commented on how she enjoyed coming to the vlei to learn more about how important plants are to humans. Dominique Fortuin enjoyed scattering seeds, and Iqrah Anders liked learning about how plants are used medicinally and for other purposes. 
    The Leisure Education Trust sponsors talented students, and encourages them to engage in community activities. Four of these learners were so inspired they came to both the morning and afternoon session at Princess Vlei and also attended the session at Rondebosch Common on  Saturday
        One of these was Vanshika Patel, a Grade 11 learner from Rylands High. Vanshika said that she had not heard of iNaturalist before the event, but that she enjoyed taking pictures of different plants and learning more about them after uploading them on the app. 
         ‘I found all the flowers that I took pictures of really interesting because they were all so pretty and colourful. I would definitely encourage other young people to get involved because getting involved in conservation allows us to learn more interesting and new things about the nature.’
        The event offered us an opportunity to scatter seeds in our restoration areas, and to monitor the plants that were put in last year. A number of protea seedlings are thriving, and some are ready to flower - the first proteas to flower at Princess Vlei for over fifty years.

  • Check out our project page on iNaturalist 
0 Comments

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Posts by Bridget Pitt unless stated otherwise.

    Categories

    All
    Articles
    Landscape And Identity
    News
    Past Events
    Princess Vlei
    Women's Day

About Princess Vlei Forum

Proudly powered by Weebly