`Fired up' about Orleanspark
2006-12-07
A CONTROLLED burn will take place at the Orleans Park camping and picnic site in Paarl East from Tuesday to Thursday next week, provided the weather conditions are favourable.
The burn will take place under controlled circumstances in conjunction with the Paarl Fire Department.
The project is undertaken by Drakenstein Municipality, in partnership with Cape Nature, CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers), and SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute).
It is home to a small fragment of natural vegetation approximately 6ha in size and has two threatened ecosystems.
Some of the last remaining lowland renosterveld fragments occur here as well as six other species listed as threatened with extinction on the South African red list for plants.
In April 1980, botanist Chris Burgers discovered small fragments of renosterveld as well as the critically endangered daisy Marasmodes undulata, at Orleans Park.
This plant species is known to be found nowhere else in the world, except Orleans Park.
For the past 20 years, botanists have been studying and conducting surveys at the site, monitoring the number of plants of this particular species.
The surveys verified that in the absence of a fire regime and appropriate management, the plant numbers of the Marasmodes undulata has declined from over 500 individual plants in 1984 to 200 plants in 1994 and less than 19 individuals counted in 2005.
This plants specie, like fynbos, is a fire-maintained ecosystem and fire is an essential part of its existence.
In the absence thereof, plants grow old and lose their physical and reproductive abilities, consequently causing a decline in plant numbers.
There are also other endangered species in dire need of conservation and also requiring a routine burn, like Tritoniopis elongata (vulnerable geophyte species), Lapeirousia azurea (a bulb in the Irid family) and Leucadendron corymbosum, Leucadendron lanigerum and Leucadendron stellare (endangered cone bushes from the Protea family).
Very stringent emergency procedures will be in place for the duration of this event.
For safety reasons, residents in the neighbouring area are urged not to enter the site where the burn will take place.
Do not hesitate to contact Jimmy Knaggs at 807-4707 or Justine Wyngaardt 807-4731 at Drakenstein Municipality, if you have any queries regarding the burn.
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