Slash covered slopes of Upper Tokai a concern as high fire season begins
Cape Town - With high fire season in full swing, Parkscape has drawn attention to the slopes of Upper Tokai, which were covered in hundreds of tons of tinder dry slash, following extensive invasive alien species clearing a year ago, that still has not been removed or burned – posing a huge fire risk in the area.
Parkscape founder Nicky Schmidt said the extensive alien clearing was carried out by several contractors, working under the guidance of SANParks, and left the slopes of Constantiaberg, in Upper Tokai, covered in hundreds of tons of tinder dry slash.
Schmidt said only a small portion, on the eastern edge of the Upper Tokai area, had been burned, while volunteer alien hacking efforts in Tokai, Cecilia, and other areas, have since left mounds of slash in their wake.
The environmental non-profit group was also concerned with the invasive alien species appearing amid all this slash, as it increased the fuel biomass and indicated that clearing was possibly not done correctly, and that seed banks remained in the earth.
Schmidt said ecologists involved in biodiversity restoration indicated that it was too early to burn in Upper Tokai, following the 2015 fires. They thus discouraged the fuel reduction burns, which would reduce the fuel load.
However, with dense urban edges, heritage properties, wine farms, and cultural landscapes at potential risk, Schmidt said this position was concerning.
“Fire modelling done for Parkscape, in 2019, indicates that a fire starting in Upper Tokai could have devastating consequences for the urban edge, the surrounding wine farms, and multiple heritage buildings. In a south-easterly wind, a fire would run from Constantiaberg to potentially as far as Kirstenbosch and Newlands. If the wind were to change, it would swing the fire towards Hout Bay and Noordhoek,” said Schmidt.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environments’ Working on Fire Programme, in Western Cape, said they had their resources ready to assist in veld and forest fire suppression operations, with the province officially entering the Summer Fire Season today.
Working on Fire’s Western Cape general manager Melany Duthie-Surtie said the province was more than ready, and was confident that lives and properties would be saved, and the environment protected.
SANParks was approached for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.
kristin.engel@inl.co.za