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FOTP Newsletter Quarter 1
We would like to wish all our members -that’s you if you are receiving this from us! - a very happy new year 😊 We have a very exciting 2022 lined up at FOTP, having received a large IUCN SOS Grant which we will be busy with from February to July (read more in our news section below), and with lots of fun events planned, including our Tuesday hacks (volunteer opportunity -read more below), and our night walk -back by popular demand and planned for early March (more info below).
After a busy year last year and since we will be very busy with our IUCN project this year, we have decided to scale back our newsletters to quarterly updates, with any important events as newsflashes in between. So please do keep an eye out for our next one in April 2022! These quarterly newsletters will therefore be packed with exciting news, this one includes our latest blog posts, a job opportunity (we are hiring!) as well as an invitation to attend our AGM on 31 March 2022. Please do diarize this and register at the link shared below, we are planning a fantastic guest speaker (more info to be revealed soon). Hope to see you out there enjoying Tokai Park!
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The beautiful open fynbos landscape at Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. Photo credit: Santie Gouws. See more of her fantastic photos here.
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1. Volunteer Opportunities
We have many Tuesday hack events planned for the first quarter of 2022, please do diarise these events and let us know if you would like to be added to the specific mailing list. Our hacks are a great way to keep fit while getting fresh air and doing your bit for nature.
Tuesday Hacks
February: 15, 22 (4-6pm)
March: 1, 8,15, 22, 19 (4-6pm)
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. Night Walk
We are very excited to be hosting another night walk in early March 2022. We will be sending details about the dates and sign-up form soon!
3. FOTP AGM 2022
This is official notice to all our members of our AGM from 7-9pm on Thursday 31 March 2022, we will be having a virtual AGM on the Zoom platform. As always, it is open to all our members as well as the public, and we will kick-off with our FOTP business and end with an exciting talk as a treat to our members. More information to follow!
Please register in advance for our AGM (spots are limited) by clicking this link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYoc-GtrzsjE9OMvoAKKU6Je2PTzd1E6IiF
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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4. TMNP Festival 2022
Please come and support the FOTP at the TMNP Festival on 21 March 2022 at The Range in Tokai! The festival will bring together all of the role players that are involved within Table Mountain, including hiking clubs, Fire Protection, NSRI, Urban Caracal Project and SANParks who have endorsed the event, as well as many others (over 50 stalls). There will be food and drink, fun activities, talks and discussions relating to Table Mountain and displays, and entertainment for children. FOTP will have a stand there, and be leading a restoration walk, so if you haven’t joined us on one, do come along, and invite other people to experience what makes the flora at Tokai Park so special!
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We have so much news to share with you all! In this newsletter please feel free to browse these three news items (below) and please share them widely with any people interested!
- The Friends of Tokai Park receive an IUCN SOS Rapid Action Grant
- The Tokai-Cecilia Management Framework Review Process
- Scientific input on the DFFE 100 Million Tree Programme
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FOTP receive an IUCN SOS Rapid Action Grant
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The charismatic and iconic endangered Western Leopard Toad is important for natural pest control and is threatened by habitat loss and road deaths. During breeding season each year, volunteers raise public awareness and assist toads in search of breeding ponds to safely cross our roads.
Friends of Tokai Park has now launched an exciting new project 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.
In partnership with SANParks, this new Friends of Tokai Park rapid project will have two main components: 1) tackling alien vegetation, and 2) re-vegetating rare and locally missing indigenous species. The project will create 15 new short-term jobs, including 12 paid internship positions for recent graduates with ecological expertise from around the country.
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FoTP launches IUCN SOS Rapid Action Project: Restoring Western Leopard Toad habitat at Tokai Park. Photo by Marius Burger.
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The Tokai-Cecilia Management Framework Review Process
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The deadline for Phase 2 proposal submission was 31 January 2022. SANParks is now reviewing the proposals and we should hear the outcome in due course in 2022.
We have just finished phase 2 (which was focused workshops for issues, concerns and proposals) and should be embarking on phase 3 (which is on outcomes of issues, concerns and proposals). Phase 3 should be initiated by a draft revised Framework for stakeholder comment from SANParks. More information, including the final reports submitted as part of phase 2, can be found here.
You can download a copy of the Friends of Tokai Park's statement here. |
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DFFE 100 Million Tree Programme
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We have recently become aware of an initiative launched by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs (DFFE) to plant 100 Million Trees in South Africa. This poorly defined and marketed programme has received some backlash from South African scientists. Please read the blogposts on this available on our website, and feel free to share them.
Shady proposition elicits illuminating responses
Professors William Bond and Tony Rebelo respond to a misleading Constantiaberg Bulletin article, Call to plant 10 million trees could give Cape Town back its shade, promoting the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment’s (DFFE) under-performing 10-million Tree Programme.
Erroneously conflating SANParks’ legislated removal of alien vegetation from our Protected Areas with a “loss” of “considerable tree cover” hurting “the city‘s cultural landscape” and depriving its citizens of “critical recreational value”, the article quotes spokespersons from several city-based community organisations voicing unquestioning support for a potentially harmful programme at a time of unparallelled global resource scarcity, habitat degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss.
Read the full story here: https://tokaipark.com/2022/02/shady-proposition-elicits-illuminating-responses/
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10-million trees? A letter to the Minister
Dr Alanna Rebelo writes a letter to Minister Ms Barbara Creecy and Ms Nosipho Ndzimbomvu formally complaining about the national Ten Million Trees Programme. She writes that this programme appears to be both poorly thought out and also very poorly marketed. It encourages citizens to plant trees, offers the reward of a certificate from DFFE and even suggests that this is supported by the Minister in charge of our natural environment. However absolutely no information is given on what trees should be planted where and to what purpose. There are so many things we can and should be doing to combat climate change. Indiscriminate tree planting is not one of them. Read the fully article to hear her reasons why.
Read the full story here: https://tokaipark.com/2022/02/10-million-trees-a-letter-to-the-minister/
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Our organization is run entirely by volunteers, and none on our committee are paid for their time or services. If you would like to support the restoration work that we do (and if you would like to see your money be invested straight into nature), then please do consider donating to our work. You can specify exactly what type of work you would like your funding to support.
We are also a PBO and so there are tax benefits for large donations. Get involved in the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration by partnering with the Friends of Tokai Park 😊
BANK DETAILS
Friends of Tokai Park
Standard Bank
Blue Route
Savings Account
27 629 2669
WESSA Affiliation: MB1240127
PBO Tax Exemption #: 930066728
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The beautiful open fynbos landscape at Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. Photo credit: Santie Gouws. See more of her fantastic photos here.
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Use the buttons below to find our website or follow us on social media :)
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