Page 7 - Landscape130

PROJECT

The current state of the riparian vegetation after alien clearing and restoration Burning of biomass at the Sandown Fynbos Corridor

several years to ensure the success of the
project.
With slightly more than 1,7 million
specifically curated, locally sourced and
propagated plants having been planted on
site throughout the course of the project, the
Sandown Fynbos Corridor finally reached a
stable, ecologically functional state, and now
stands out as a jewel among the surrounding
urban environment. But as with most things
in nature, entropy is constantly knocking at
The controlled prescribed ecological burn being conducted the door and as in the case of the Sandown
Fynbos Corridor, regression to its initial alien
biomass and a prescribed burn. Propagation covered state is a very real possibility. The
Alien vegetation was removed, and the Plant material in the form of seed and seed reserves on site run deep with alien
brush spread out to avoid hot spots during cuttings had been collected from the site species and will take decades to die out, so
the burn that was planned two years and surroundings since the start of the constant maintenance and management
after felling. The postponed burn was the project, and the Vula nursery staff had the will be required to keep the Port Jacksons
result of research conducted in the nearby mammoth task of propagating the plants at bay. Alien seeds (specifically A.saligna)
Blaauwberg conservation area during the to revegetate the site. Since the goal was can remain viable in the soil for years, with
past decade, that showed significant seed to restore Cape Flats fynbos, the selection constant germination taking place. The only
herbivory of the alien vegetation seeds of species to be planted on site had to way to get rid of them is to keep removing
by birds and rodents. Unsurprisingly, this be stringent, taking into account factors seedlings as they emerge, in the hope that
resulted in a barren patch of land with little such as the locality of plants, site of origin, eventually all viable seed has germinated
to no vegetation cover apart from the few functionality of the proposed taxa and even and been removed.
fynbos remnants sporadically distributed the sequence in which the species had to Some of the plant species propagated
across the site. While this eyesore may have be planted. Combined with the seasonal for the Sandown Fynbos Corridor include
seemed like a step backwards to the casual constraints regarding rainfall, the approach Lampranthus explanatus, Arctotis, Salvia,
observer, it provided a blank canvas on to revegetating the Sandown Fynbos Brunsvigia, Chtysanthemoides, Crassula,
which active restoration could be done. Corridor required meticulous planning over Drosanthemum, Mesembryanthemum,

Sorting and preparing of recovered plants from the surrounding areas before
Brunsvigia orientalis remnant, estimated to be at least 40 years old planting in the Sandown Fynbos Corridor

Landscape SA • Issue 130 2023 5