OVERBERG RENOSTERVELD CONSERVATION TRUST NEWS
Newsletter 39 | April 2026
by Dr Odette Curtis-Scott
Less than 5% of renosterveld remains today.
Much of what survives exists on privately owned farmland, making partnerships with landowners one of the most important tools we have to protect this globally significant ecosystem.
Over the past few months, we’ve been reminded again of just how important our renosterveld partnerships are. From new conservation easements and expanding ecological networks, to research revealing the hidden challenges facing renosterveld species, our work continues to show that conservation at landscape scale is essential – and urgent.
At the heart of this work are people: landowners who choose to conserve, researchers helping us better understand these landscapes and supporters and donors who make this work possible.
What’s coming up
In our latest newsletter, we share a new conservation easement that protects a large, connected landscape, explore the invisible crisis facing pollinators in renosterveld and reveal new and worrying insights from tracking young Black Harriers.
You’ll also find opportunities to visit our Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve this winter, and join us for one of our Wild & Wise retreats.
Thank you for being part of this journey – and for helping us build a more secure future for renosterveld.
Finding renosterveld treasures in unexpected places
Unlike many of the flashier vegetation types (like forests or fynbos), renosterveld shrublands tend to look extremely drab and lifeless during the peak summer season. This is because the peak flowering season happens over spring and because summer in the Western Cape tends to be dry, hot and windy.
Black Harrier collisions with wind turbines
A third Black Harrier has been killed by the blades of wind turbines, on a wind farm situated between Bredasdorp and Swellendam. The Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust (ORCT) is now calling for …
Fiery restoration action across farm boundaries
The ORCT and the landowners successfully implemented these controlled burns in mid-March with the support of the Ecosystem Services Team of the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area (NWSMA). Thanks to the Greater Overberg Fire Protection Association (goFPA).