OVERBERG RENOSTERVELD CONSERVATION TRUST NEWS

Newsletter 34 | August 2024

by Dr Odette Curtis-Scott

Get ready for a rip-roaring renosterveld spring

Renosterveld doesn’t follow a calendar. This year our renosterveld landscapes in the Overberg seemed convinced that spring had already arrived early in August. It’s likely linked to the very wet winter season in the Overberg – including another flooding event in June. 

For the ORCT, it means we’ve had to jump into action a little earlier, to start our spring botanising. And I’m excited about what I’m already seeing. So far it’s promising to be a very special spring for renosterveld indeed. 

A bit of a change…

We’ve heard over the course of many years that our name, the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust, is a bit too long and complicated. So we’re making a small change – we’re becoming the Overberg Renosterveld Trust.

That doesn’t mean that conservation doesn’t remain at the heart of what we do. But it simply means that our name is easier to remember. And you’ll start to see the changes to our platforms over the coming weeks.

By Grant Forbes, Conservation Manager: ORCT

When the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust signs an easement with landowners in the Overberg, it’s only the start of the journey – and the work. The Trust signs conservation easements with farmers – essentially servitudes registered over natural land, which is then protected in perpetuity.  

The ORCT will then work with landowners to help manage their renosterveld – deciding together what (if anything) needs to be done, and how to do it. Then we work together to undertake the work. One of the greatest advantages of signing an easement is that, through support from wonderful funders, renosterveld can be managed in a way that adds value to a property.  

Here are some of the activities we undertake to support landowners:  

Fire management 

Renosterveld, like its sister veld fynbos, has to burn. The ORCT recommends burning every 10 to 15 years – but this will vary depending on the type of veld and annual rainfall. The optimal burning time is late summer and early autumn, in other words February and March. We provide support to landowners to burn renosterveld that needs it, working with the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association (goFPA) to secure the necessary permits, and bringing in partners to actually undertake the ecological burn.  

In this video, Conservation Manager Grant Forbes captures the essence of fire management – from pre-burn assessments, to the burn itself and post-burn recovery.  

Monitoring the recovery after fire 

The ORCT plans ecological burns for summer and autumn in order to ensure bulbs aren’t damaged or killed when they are in flower. And after a fire, we recommend resting the veld for at least two years before allowing grazing again. Even then, grazing should only be permitted in the late summer months for a short period. This helps to ensure that unpalatable species, such as renosterbos, don’t outcompete the more favourable, palatable species in the long term.  

We also monitor the recovery after the fire. Take a look at this video, which captures the recovery of renosterveld after a fire late in March 2024. Over the next three months, photos were taken daily by camera traps as the veld recovers.  

Monitoring wildlife in corridors 

The ORCT also works with farmers to better understand the movement of wildlife through corridors. While animals may move through agricultural lands, most depend on the natural landscapes to feed and breed. Through camera traps, we can see how animals are using these corridors, and where necessary implement conservation measures to protect them.  

Take a look at the incredible diversity of wildlife that rely on a patch of renosterveld around a solitary anthill, on one of the farms on which an easement has been signed.  

Find out more about conservation easements, how they work, and how they could benefit a landowner.

Or chat to Conservation Manager Grant Forbes for more. Email: grant@overbergrenosterveld.org.za  

The Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust (ORCT) has launched the world’s first renosterveld mobile phone app, called Field Guide to Renosterveld. This allows you to identify 1 600 plant and animal species during your renosterveld adventures, all in the palm of your hand.  

The app is based on the printed Field Guide to Renosterveld of the Overberg, released in 2020. The book contained over 1 100 species, of which just 14% were animals. The app builds on this and now contains over 1 600 species, of which 30% are animals that feature over 350 invertebrate photographs.  

According to lead author and CEO of the ORCT, Dr Odette Curtis-Scott, the launch of this new app couldn’t come at a more important time for renosterveld. “The Field Guide to Renosterveld of the Overberg aimed to make threatened renosterveld more accessible to people. It is our hope that the app will add substantially to our heartfelt endeavors to make renosterveld even more accessible and loveable to everyone. 

You don’t need to travel far to discover a whole world of treasures that live in the small fragments of renosterveld you’ll find spread across the Overberg.”  

Your list:

You can also use the app to log your observations of any of the species listed on the app. Here you can include where and when you saw the species, to start collecting data on your own renosterveld explorations.   

The Field Guide to Renosterveld app features:  

• An introduction to renosterveld
• A detailed description of the ecology of renosterveld
• Plant descriptions, divided into Ferns, Dicots,  Monocots and Mosses & Liverworts
• Amphibians, fish and reptiles of renosterveld 
• Over 100 insect and 35 arachnid families described, featuring photographs of over 340 species
• Photographs of 70 of the bird species you’ll find in renosterveld and surrounding farmlands
• And 37 mammals of renosterveld  

BUY AND DOWNLOAD YOUR APP: here’s how:

Above: Students visiting the Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve. Photo by Tevin Adams

From March 2023 to February 2024, we hosted 219 learners from 11 different schools at the Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve, to take part in our out-of-classroom learning experience. 

Meet the educator 

Environmental educator, Gretha Engelbrecht has years of experience in the field, with an added passion for nature. Gretha is adept at creating age-appropriate nature lessons for each Veld School group – from the children, to the teachers! 

She says, “When it comes to environmental education, kids have to understand what the environment means to them – not just what they can mean or do for it.” 

Above: Gretha Engelbrecht and students. Photo by Tevin Adams

And surrounded by Haarwegskloof’s pristine renosterveld, Gretha’s teachings really come to life. 

“We don’t follow a strict checklist. We rather try to help the kids breathe it in while they’re in nature, to live it,” she says. “And they are amazing. As soon as they realise how wonderful the environment is, they really absorb it. They open up and start telling stories about their own experiences in nature.” 

After a day of hands-on learning and exploration, we always make sure to get feedback from those whose opinions means the most: our young eco-warriors. 

“When we ask the kids about what they learned, the most common answer is that all the plants and animals are important,” says Tevin Adams, our Conservation Extension Officer. “It’s clear that they leave Haarwegskloof with an understanding that everything is connected in some manner – and that we as humans should protect it to the best of our ability.” 

For Gretha, Tevin and the team, it’s not only about reaching the children: The teachers are just as important.  

For example, in the past year, the ORCT hosted a special educator training day – in an effort to support our teachers and the integral part they play in shaping the next generation.  

A group of educators from De Heide Primary School in Bredasdorp joined the Veld School team at Haarwegskloof to engage in a think tank. They discussed ideas on how the ORCT can strengthen its partnerships with local schools, help revive environmental education at school and offer support to science educators. 

Says Gretha, “The teachers that come along are just as enthusiastic as the kids!”

We hope to reach even more kids and teachers through the Veld School over the next few months! 

We’re incredibly grateful to ENGIE for their support of this important programme, as well as to the National Lotteries Commission of SA for their support in the past.  

By Grant Forbes, Conservation Manager: ORCT

An ecological burn on a farm near Napier has led to the appearance of a most unusual Oxalis species. It’s a find that has created a stir of excitement amongst the experts. So much so that a group of botanists from the Stellenbosch University and the Botanical Society of South Africa headed out to visit the site, in order to collect genetic material for safekeeping.

The excitement started after an ecological burn late in summer, supported by the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust. After noticing the pretty Oxalis growing in the post-burn veld, I uploaded a picture of it to iNaturalist. It was Dr Kenneth Oberlander whose identification of the specimen caused a real stir. He identified it as Oxalis duriusula – a species known from fewer than 15 localities, mostly from the western Overberg and seemingly limited to clay soils.

Oxalis duriuscula was named by Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlechter in 1897, duriuscula meaning somewhat hard, rough or harsh, possibly referring to its rough feel of the plant or the environment it grows in.

Top: Oxalis truncatula. Bottom: Oxalis duriuscula. Photos by Grant Forbes

A spectacular find of an evasive species 

These ‘surings’ or wood sorrels, as they are also known, have been evading us and many other botanists. It is quite a find when you do finally see them. Fire is not a driver necessarily for Oxalis, but the fire seems to have opened the vegetation up for them to flourish. Late April we found spots of these bulbous dicots flowering somewhat prolifically, with Oxalis truncatula and O. stellata.  

Above: Oxalis duriuscula. Photos by Grant Forbes

In fact, the field trip made us aware of just how prolific the species is at this location: it took some time for one of the researchers to find a specimen. But soon you heard ‘found another here’ repeatedly, even though we had missed the peak of the flowering. Some fruit and the last remaining flowers were recorded as these Endangered and range-restricted plants replenish their bulbs, before disappearing once more, hopefully to be seen again next year.  

Left and right: Oxalis duriuscula. Photos by Annerie Senekal (left) and Kayleigh Murray (right)