MEDIA RELEASE
NO. 158/ 2010
04 MARCH 2010

The management of the Tygerberg Nature Reserve wishes to alert residents in the vicinity of the reserve that they will be conducting a controlled burn on a section of the eastern slope during the week of 08, 09 and 10 March and then on a portion of the western slope on 15, 16 and 17 March 2010.

The required permits have been obtained from both City Health’s Air Quality Management Section and City Fire and Rescue Services.

Home owners neighbouring the reserve are urged to close all windows and not hang out any laundry on these days.

Tygerberg Nature Reserve, one of 30 nature reserves and natural areas managed by the City, supports one of the last remnants of the critically endangered Swartland Shale Renosterveld vegetation. Many cities in the world contain valuable biodiversity. However, it is only within the City of Cape Town that irreplaceable biodiversity of international significance is crammed into almost every open space and road verge.

Within the Reserve’s 300 hectares, 460 plant species are found, 12 of which are threatened with extinction, eight are endemic (found nowhere else in the world) to Cape Town and three are endemic to the reserve. The management of the reserve is dedicated to the conservation of these highly threatened and very special plant species, while providing educational and recreational opportunities to the citizens of Cape Town. The view from the top of the Tygerberg is magnificent and emphasises how meagre the patches of natural vegetation are amid the urban sprawl.

Swartland Shale Renosterveld supports a wide variety of mammal, amphibian, reptile, invertebrate and bird life, providing a refuge for species that have lost their habitat due to urban sprawl. In order to conserve this amazing ecosystem, intensive management practices, including controlled burning, need to be implemented.

Fire is an integral and necessary part of managing the vegetation at Tygerberg Nature Reserve. Historically, Renosterveld would have burned approximately every five to seven years, but due to urbanisation, fire has been kept out of areas like Tygerberg as it was seen as a threat to infrastructure. If the veld does not burn on a regular basis, the typical Renosterveld vegetation structure is replaced by a woody thicket – creating a colourless landscape with limited species numbers. Many indigenous plant species become locally extinct as they not only rely on fire for germination and the spread of seeds, but also for the recycling of nutrients locked up in the vegetation. Fire removes all of the dead and senescent matter, opening up the canopy of the veld to allow seedlings to flourish.

Fire is also used as part of an integrated control of alien invasive trees and weeds. Veld left unburned for many years becomes senescent and is prone to runaway fires which become a hazard to neighbouring land owners. Another advantage of undertaking a controlled burn is that it lowers the fuel load, reducing the possibility and severity of a runaway wild fire.


END

ISSUED BY:
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN


MEDIA QUERIES:
PENNY GLANVILLE
MANAGER: TYGERBERG NATURE RESERVE
TEL: 021 913 5695