The hills are ablaze
The last two months have seen numerous wild fires in the vicinity of Grahamstown. Whilst the presence of these passes almost unnoticed by many townsfolk, save for an occasional pall of smoke over the town, for those affected it can be another story.
The hills are ablaze
The last two months have seen numerous wild fires in the vicinity of Grahamstown. Whilst the presence of these passes almost unnoticed by many townsfolk, save for an occasional pall of smoke over the town, for those affected it can be another story.
The 21st June saw a huge wind-driven wildfire burn from the N2 near Brackendale up over the southern commonage into the Rivendell Valley, which was totally burnt out in an impressive and fearful sheet of flame.
Many neighbours and locals, including the Grahamstown fire brigade, helped try to contain the blaze, which finally burnt out two days later near the Stone Crescent Hotel.
A month later on 21 July, another fire was deliberately started (by persons unknown) during a quiet evening on the hills north of the Thomas Baines Reserve. It eventually burnt out most of the remaining unburnt hills from the earlier fire.
Damage is done
Whilst a few landowners revelled in the anticipation of new grazing, others suffered considerable losses: Collapsed fences, burnt infrastructure including pipelines and telephone systems, and a huge toll in destroyed trees and bushes.
Academics may preach that the fynbos needs fire to regenerate, but the reality is that these sort of fires are both too frequent and too fierce these days.
Comparing an old 1947 aerial photograph I have of the area with a modern one shows how the kloof forests have retreated since then – in some cases completely disappearing. Forests spread though a slow process of forest margin pioneer trees slowly extending the forest area, shading out the combustible ground covers such as grass and bracken.
Enter a fire, and some of these pioneer trees along the margins are eliminated, but they protect the forest core by slowing the fire’s intensity. Given a fire almost every year, this buffer zone is destroyed and the forest proper – comprising large, mature trees, which are then scorched or killed.
Aliens are about
After the two recent fires the landscape was littered with burnt and collapsed fences, Telkom telephone poles burnt right down to the insulators with melted wires, scorched Eskom lines and poles, burnt gates and signs. And of course many, many dead trees – a poignant indictment of those who light fires.
The Albany Working for Water organisation had, for several months, been clearing extensive infestations of alien hakea, pine and eucalyptus on the hills of Howiesons’ Poort. Much of the felled vegetation had been stacked, and this added to the ferocity of the blaze.
In the aftermath, it is clear how hot the fire was under this felled vegetation as almost no re-sprouting of green has taken place in those areas six weeks later. This can be compared to the thin veil of green that now adorns the un-invaded slopes.
Ominously, what has happened to the millions of hakea seeds released into the smoke of the blaze and broadcast over the entire area will only be revealed in two years time when they germinate.
Hope springs eternal
The almost monoculture grassy slopes of Mountain Drive, an example of what happens when a landscape is burnt every year, have yet to burn this year.
I actually cannot remember a single year during the last 25, when the slopes above Grey Dam have not burnt.
There is plenty of grass after last year’s good rains. In the interests of biodiversity, as well as the myriad of small creatures that perish during these fires, I hope they remain unburnt until the spring rains bring relief.
Makana Enviro-News contributors
Nikki Köhly: n.kohly@ru.ac.za, 046 603 7205 | Jenny Gon: j-gon@intekom.co.za, 046 622 5822 | Ruth Krueger: g10k2679@campus.ru.ac.za, 076 295 8045 | Nick James: nickjames@intekom.co.za, 082 575 9781 | Philip Machanick: p.machanick@ru.ac.za, 046 603 8635 | Strato Copteros: strato@iafrica.com, 082 785 6403
