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FOTP Newsletter Quarter 2
It has been a busy first quarter at Friends of Tokai Park, and as we ease into autumn we would love to let you know about all we have planned for the next one! Our Tuesday hacks continue as usual, offering a fantastic opportunity to be trained by our expert volunteers, and do your bit for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Please see our dates for May to June below. In addition, we have the City Nature Challenge 2022 starting this Friday, 29 April! Friends of Tokai Park are hosting three events: a night walk, a hike up to the Elephants Eye Cave, and a wetland meander. Some of these will be led by our awesome interns, so it is a great opportunity to get to know them! We hope this diversity of events will cater to all of our members :) Please do invite your friends and family to join us! Links and details are available below.
By far the most exciting event of the season was the long anticipated prescribed ecological burn at lower Tokai Park on 12 April 2022. Finding that perfect gap of reasonably safe weather conditions, and good timing ecologically, proved challenging and the burn happened rather late in the season. The burn itself went well, and we include a photo story here. We also share some of our recent blog posts, some feedback on our AGM including the free talk on the polyphagous shothole borer you can access, an update on our IUCN SOS project and our interns, as well as a brief update on the TCMF process.
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The fire begins. On 12 April 2022 a prescribed ecological burn took place at Lower Tokai Park. Photo by Jeremy Shelton.
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1. Volunteer Opportunities
Our hacks continue as usual into the second quarter of 2022, so please do diarize these events and let us know if you would like to be added to the specific mailing list. We are now into winter time, so do 3-5pm. Our hacks are a great way to join the efforts for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Tuesday Hacks
May: 3, 17, 31 (3-5pm)
June: 14, 28 (3-5pm)
Saturday Hacks
None scheduled at present, please keep your eyes on our social media pages.
Please note that our Covid-19 Regulations will apply to our hacks and walks.
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2. City Nature Challenge Events 2022
The City Nature Challenge is only 3 days away, are you ready!? Have you picked your events yet? If not, why not join us at Tokai Park for a whole lot of bioblitzing fun that the whole family can enjoy :)
For those who don't know what the City Nature Challenge (CNC) is all about, it is a global event where cities across the world sign up to compete for the most biodiverse city (the most species), the most observations, and the most observers. Cape Town has won in two categories for the last few years, however more cities are joining than ever before, and the competition is stiff this year! We need everyone's help! For more information, scroll to the bottom of this newsletter and have a look at the info poster.
Friends of Tokai Park events:
1. Elephant's Eye Hike
When: Saturday 30 April 2022 from 7:30 – 10:30 AM
Meet: At the Tokai Picnic Site
Bring: Sunhats, sunscreen, snacks, plenty of water, and don't forget your phones!
Details: If you like a decent hike, this is an event for you! We will walk through the Tokai Arboretum and up to the Elephants Eye cave, taking photos for iNaturalist and the Cape Town City Nature Challenge as we go! This walk will be led by our FOTP interns, and they will be able to tell you all about the alien trees invading the area, and you can assess the state of the invasion along trail yourself as you hike. Although we will be going slowly as we will be taking photos, the hike is still pitched at an intermediate level of difficulty and any children are to please be accompanied by a relatively fit adult.
Sign-up here: https://forms.gle/5jgnzpQb33A4XYh79
2. Protecting Wetland Wonders
When: Saturday 30 April 2022 from 11:30 – 12:30 PM
Meet: At the Tokai Picnic Site
Bring: Sunhats, sunscreen, snacks, plenty of water, and don't forget your phones! Good walking boots or gumboots advised.
Details: This event is a sneak peak into what our interns have been doing restoring Western Leopard Toad Habitat at Upper Tokai Park on our IUCN SOS Project! Come take an easy stroll around the restoration site, see the progress they've made and what will be happening next, capturing observations for iNaturalist as we go! This walk will also be led by our interns, who can tell you about all the interesting sighting's they have seen during their internship here.
Sign-up here: https://forms.gle/RZchEp5nBgkcp1Ky6
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3. Night Walk
When: Friday 29 April 2022 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Meet: Canal Carpark on Orpen Rd
Bring: torch, jersey, long pants and good shoes.
Details: We are very excited to be hosting another night walk. Have you ever wondered what critters wander lower Tokai Park at night? Come join our Night Walk as we participate in the global City Nature Challenge 2022!
Sign up here: https://forms.gle/jRJ6m63Tv7Z9DZpi7
We hope to see you there! Please invite you friends and family to participate in our CNC events. If you live too far away to join us, please see this website for the full list of events on the Cape Peninsula: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2022-city-of-cape-town/journal/63702-planned-events-for-2022
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There is always a lot of news to share at FOTP, and this time we would like to report back on the following:
- Prescribed ecological burn at lower Tokai Park
- FOTP AGM feedback
- Update on our IUCN SOS project
- The Tokai-Cecilia Management Framework Review Process
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1. Prescribed ecological burn at lower Tokai Park
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We share a brief photo story of the ecological burn at Tokai Park this April.
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Fire approaches the Endangered Leucadendron floridum (Flats Conebush). Like all Fynbos species, this plant has adapted to fire - and even depends on it to stimulate regrowth. Photo by Tony Rebelo.
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Watching patiently as the fire moves opposite the Tokai Restoration Trail. Photo by FOTP Committee member and youth representative Jeremy Gilmore.
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The FOTP are immensely grateful to all those who got this essential burn done (of course SANParks!) and all the firefighters who worked tirelessly day and night to ensure its safety. Fire is essential in the Fynbos ecosystem as it clears out old and diseased vegetation while stimulating new healthy growth. Photo by Jeremy Shelton.
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The Friends of Tokai Park Annual General Meeting on 31 March 2022 was a great success with over 40 people in attendance! We heard a fantastic chair's report (feel free to email the FOTP secretary if you would like a copy), and we were delighted to welcome Marna Herbst to our committee. Our committee is now 8 people strong, you can read more about us here: https://tokaipark.com/about-us/team/.
FOTP members were treated to guest speaker Dr Anandi Bierman who presented on the landscape genomics of the polyphagous shot hole borer. You can catch up the video below for free if you couldn't make it to our AGM. Thank you to Anandi for her time!
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FOTP AGM Guest Talk 2022: Dr Anandi Bierman - Genetics of the polyphagous shot hole borer &inferences on potential for future introductions in RSA.
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3. Update on our IUCN SOS Project
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Reminder: what is the project about? Friends of Tokai Park launched an exciting new project in March 2022 to restore the habitat of the endangered Western Leopard Toad at Tokai Park, South Africa. Funding was granted for the project by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Union through the Save Our Species Rapid Action Grant, which hopes to address delays in conservation-related work caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have hired 12 interns, one site manager and one project coordinator to do the job! Lean more here: https://tokaipark.com/2022/02/fotp-launches-iucn-sos-rapid-action-project/
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The project is going well, with the interns having tackled approximately 2 ha of densely invaded wetland at Upper Tokai Park. You can follow their progress in this map over the course of the project: https://tokaipark.com/tokai-park/adopt-a-plot/ (second interactive map on the page), or see the sites in the map below. You can also see their observations on iNaturalist here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/tokai-park-iucn-sos-2022-interns.
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4. The Tokai-Cecilia Management Framework Review Process: Update
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The end is in sight! The long awaited TCMF draft implementation plan is now available for scrutiny here:
https://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/about/tokai-cecilia.php
(look under the 2022 tab). You have a chance now to read it, and the deadline for submitting comments is Friday, 20 May 2022. SANParks will also be hosting an interactive session in early May 2022 to provide the opportunity for you to ask any questions for clarity before submitting comments.
You can download a copy of the Friends of Tokai Park's statement here. |
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We have three new blog posts on our FOTP website, one original by Jeremy Gilmore, and another two reproduced with permission. Please do read them and share them if you haven't already!
Psoralea fascicularis: A Restoration Project
Jeremy Gilmore presents his 2021 Grade 12 Project – the restoration of Psoralea fascicularis (Large-stipule Fountainbush) at Tokai greenbelts.
Read the full story here: https://tokaipark.com/2022/03/psoralea-fascicularis-a-restoration-project/
Alien clearing boosts City’s climate resilience
Clearing alien trees from the catchments above major dams before the Cape Town drought hit could have reduced the impact of climate change on river flow during the drought. For example, clearing catchments with moderate invasions (40% coverage of alien trees) could have ameliorated river flow reductions attributed to climate change by 3-16%. Preventing the spread of alien trees to fully cover the catchments avoided 10-27% additional reductions in stream flow due to climate change.
Read the full story here: https://tokaipark.com/2022/03/alien-clearing-boosts-city-s-climate-resilience/
SA media treat fire as a foe
Scientists speak out about SA media treating fire as a foe – incinerating its ecosystem benefits in a blaze of misinformation.
Read the full story here: https://tokaipark.com/2022/03/sa-media-treat-fire-as-foe/
Upcoming blog posts to keep an eye out for in the days to come...
- A response to CoCT’s draft “Urban Forest Policy”
- Snakes, chameleons and FIRE
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More information on the CNC 2022
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