The City of Cape Town has obtained a permit to conduct an open burn of vegetation at the Zoarvlei Wetland section of Table Bay Nature Reserve.
The burn will take place when weather conditions are favourable during March 2013, to remove accumulated dry reeds and bulrushes, and it is required to manage the levels of flammable vegetation in the habitat.
The City’s Environmental Resource Management Department is working in the wetlands to apply herbicide and cut and remove bulrushes that cause seed dispersal in the area. Burning is part of an integrated management approach to suppress reed beds.
The area that will be burnt lies between the Paarden Eiland industrial area to the west, and Brooklyn to the east. The burn will be conducted in terms of a permit for controlled burning as issued by Subcouncil 15 of the City of Cape Town. The Environmental Resource Management Department’s Biodiversity Management Branch will ensure that the procedure is conducted safely and efficiently.
The burn will take place on a suitable week day and will be completed within the course of one day. Potential dates include any day between 4 and 7, 11 and 13, 19, or 25 and 27 March. The burn will be timed between 10:00 and 14:00 and “mopping-up” after the burn will continue as long as is required.
Neighbouring residents and land owners will be notified of the exact date of the burn by a letter-drop in their mailboxes and e-mail notifications where available. Measures will be put in place to direct traffic away from any smoke and ash, which may cause discomfort to surrounding residents. Nature conservation staff will assist with relocating wild animals before and during the burn.
Surrounding residents are advised to keep their windows shut while burning takes place. Flammable items such as gas canisters should be removed from outside areas and laundry should be taken off washing lines to prevent odour contamination from the smoke. Sprinklers may be used to dampen gardens as a further precautionary measure.
The burn will assist managers to remove more of the bulrushes that have been invading the wetland over decades. The integrated management of bulrushes includes burning, cutting, removal and herbicide application. The removal of dry flammable material by means of a controlled burn will reduce the likelihood of future uncontrolled wildfires, as well as improve the habitat for birds.
Some of the nature reserves managed by the City of Cape Town require the proliferation of a natural fire regime, without which our unique and irreplaceable indigenous vegetation would not be able to regenerate. The Table Bay Nature Reserve comprises various vegetation types, including Cape Flats sand fynbos, Cape Flats dune strandveld and Cape Lowlands freshwater wetlands which must burn occasionally to stimulate new growth and to remove flammable dead plant materials.
For further enquiries, please contact Koos Retief, Area Manager: Milnerton Area, Biodiversity Management Branch, Environmental Resource Management Department on 021 444 0315.
For more information on the City’s nature reserves, visit www.capetown.gov.za/naturereserves
