In an attempt to ‘Europeanise’ the landscape, 1820 Settlers were assisted by the British government to
plant all manner of exotic trees, some of which were later to become invasive.
In an attempt to ‘Europeanise’ the landscape, 1820 Settlers were assisted by the British government to
plant all manner of exotic trees, some of which were later to become invasive.
Ironically, the South African government, through the Department of Water Affairs’ Working for Water Project (implemented by the Gamtoos Irrigation Board) is now spending millions of rands to clear the Albany suurveld of these invasives, owing to the threat they pose to water supplies and grazing areas.
By the mid 1800s, many prominent Albany farmers were attributing drought to the absence of trees on the suurveld.
Indeed, the notion that trees attract rain was widely supported by scientists at that time. Albany has few indigenous forests and these are usually tucked away in inaccessible mountain kloofs.
Moreover, the trees are not especially tall. Good timber was to be sourced from the forests of the Alexandria coast and inland, along the Winterberg-Amathole escarpment.
But these forests were some distance away from the suurveld and access to timber very soon came under government control.
Trees were also required for timber, a material of utmost importance in the pre-industrial Cape. So farmers wanted to plant trees – for timber, for fuel, for water and for their beauty. And the species that grew fastest were invariably those from foreign climes.
The major source for growing and distributing alien trees were the governmentowned botanical gardens.
Like the Cape Town garden, the newly established Grahamstown garden exchanged tree species with botanical gardens throughout the world – Sydney, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and Britain’s Kew Gradens.
By the 1870s, the Grahamstown garden was distributing up to 10 000 trees annually to the surrounding farms.
One of the most widely planted trees was the blue gum, a eucalyptus from Australia. Also introduced was black wattle, long-leaved wattle, silky hakea (for hedgerows), pines, oaks, cypress, alders and many more.
When blue gum lost its glamour, pines became the rage. Farmers who planted the most trees in a district were given awards in recognition of their zeal.
As one magazine article concluded in 1859: “The question of rendering the country wellwooded is perhaps the most important the colonists have to deal with”.
The government-sponsored planting of exotic trees continued well into the 20th century. Who was to know that some of these species were later to become invasive and infest large areas of the Albany suurveld?
Starting in the 1940s, botanists began raising concerns about the spread of long-leaved wattle, black wattle and cluster pine in the region.
More recently, research has shown that these species have a negative impact on water supplies as they consume much more water than indigenous plants.
The notion that trees enhance rainfall has been long disproved, other than in cloud forests in the tropics. Also, most Albany farmers have come to appreciate the rolling, bald landscapes of the suurveld, with their isolated patches of indigenous forest and thicket-filled valleys.
This African beauty is in many areas impaired by flashes of Australia (wattle and eucalyptus) or Europe (pine and oak).
Indeed, managers of many of Albany’s numerous game reserves are actively eradicating aliens in order to re-Africanise the landscape.
The circle has made a fullturn: indigenous is in, exotic is out. Restore degraded veld using spekboom, not agave; sweet thorn makes better braai wood than black wattle; and long-leaved wattle is good for nothing!
This shift was doubtless aided by a declining demand – at least among the settlers – for wood for heating and cooking and the widespread availability of timber grown in commercial plantations.
But what has also changed are peoples perceptions about landscape beauty – aliens are ugly because they don’t belong here.
These attitudinal changes are steadily translating into behavioural changes: more and more people are planting indigenous ornamentals and eradicating aliens, or at least preventing their expansion.
Moreover, government initiatives such as Working for Water are committed to eradicating aliens. But all of us must play a part and fight the war in our own backyards,if this battle is to be won and the suurveld is to be restored to its healthy state.