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FOTP Newsletter Quarter 4

With less than a month to go to Christmas, we would like to wish all our members a wonderful and safe festive season and a very happy new year! In this newsletter we share details of the last alien hack events for the year. Please do consider joining for the last few, or otherwise sending your gardener, or sponsoring one. We are very short of hands, and really need assistance. We also have our Night Walk tonight at 19:30 and there are still some spots left. If you would like to join, please do sign up soon to secure your place. We have lots of exciting FOTP-related news to share, including discovering a new population of Fountainbush at UpperTokai Park, FOTP t-shirts for sale, and a Cape Talk interview on alien trees. 
FOTP's spring flower walk at Lower Tokai Park was led by Prof's Pat & Tony Rebelo on Sun 2 Oct. 
FOTP Hacks

Volunteer Opportunities
We have a handful of hack events left until the end of the year! Please join us to do your bit for nature before the holidays. 

Tuesday Hacks
Convener: Margaret
December: 6 & 13 (4-6pm)
Restarting from 7 February 2023

Arboretum Hacks
Convener: Berta
Arboretum hacks continue on Mondays and Fridays weekly, from 8:30-11:30. 

Saturday Hacks
Convener: Tony
Will restart after the summer, in March 2023. 

Chainsaw Gang Hacks
Convener: Jay
Chainsaw gang continues on Tuesdays.
 

Please keep your eyes on our social media pages or our website: https://tokaipark.com/events/. 


Please note that our Covid-19 Regulations will apply to our hacks and walks.
RSVP for a hack
Hacks: Bring your Gardener!
We are very short of hack volunteers. Please consider bringing your gardener along to help with our hacking events! If you are not able to hack at all, but are willing to sponsor a gardener to assist us with alien clearing activities in the field, please do consider making a donation. This would cost about R300 per day, and would create job opportunities. 
 
Sponsor a Gardener
Night Walk
Details
Date: Thursday, 1 December 2022 (this evening!)
Time: 19:30 (sunset is at around 19:45)
Duration: +- 90 minutes.
Bring: Torch (a UV torch too if possible), sturdy shoes, camera, etc.
Meeting place: Canal Gate car park on Orpen Road (-34.055119, 18.428680)
Walk lead: Vard
Expected weather: 20°C, partly cloudy, moderate SSE wind; moon: 1st quarter

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/jRJ6m63Tv7Z9DZpi7
FOTP News
Please scroll through all the interesting news relating to FOTP in this last quarter:
  1. FOTP has refreshed our notice board at Lower Tokai Park
  2. A new population of the Fountainbush was found at Upper Tokai Park during our IUCN SOS project
  3. FOTP t-shirts for sale. Order yours now!
  4. WESSA's informative October newsletter is available for you to download and read as an FOTP member
  5. Great Southern Bioblitz: FOTP's contribution
  6. FOTP hacking updates: new population of PJ's found
  7. Water use app for alien trees: how much water do the pines at Lower Tokai Park use?
  8. Cape Talk Interview by Prof Brian van Wilgen: how and why should we be managing invasive alien plant species?
1. Refreshing our Lower Tokai Park notice board
FOTP refurbished our notice board and refreshed the content displayed at Lower Tokai Park this October. Thank you to Leila Mitrani for the refurbishment, and Alanna Rebelo and Dandi Kritzinger for content. Please do go and have a look on your next dog walk through the park!
2. A new Fountainbush population for Tokai Park
During the FOTP IUCN SOS project, while doing restoration planting at Upper Tokai Park, the team made the exciting discovery of a Fountainbush (Psoralea fascicularis) population that has not been previously recorded at the site.

This exciting discovery of a new Fountainbush population at Tokai Park, Table Mountain National Park, highlights the importance of the work done by these small community groups, like the Friends of Tokai Park. 

Read the full article here in the Daily Maverick: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-10-a-new-fountain-bush-population-for-tokai-park/ 
The Large-stipule Fountainbush (Psoralea fascicularis) is listed as endangered on the Red List of South African Plants. Image: Peter Swart / iNaturalist.
3. FOTP T-shirts for sale
We have a set of V-necked FOTP t-shirts for sale for R150 each in white, black and orange. Perfect for FOTP hacking! Sizes are S, M L, XL. If you are interested to order, please contact Leila: fotp.sos@gmail.com. 
4. WESSA Newsletter
FOTP is a WESSA-Friends Group, which means that all our members have access to WESSA newsletters. Access WESSA's info-packed October newsletter here. 
5. FOTP Great Southern Bioblitz
During the Great Southern Bioblitz from 28-31 October 2022, 600 observations of 211 species were made in Tokai Park. Well done to all who participated!
6. FOTP Hacking Updates
Notes from our Chair, Prof Tony Rebelo:

"During the last few hacks, we have finished block A9 along the Prinskasteel River (excluding a few dense patches of Port Jacksons). We went to clear block A11 (middle triangle) and discovered a really dense, tall (>3m) stand of Port Jacksons there. This was following the fire (prior to Covid) and then lack of follow-up. There is still a lot of great vegetation in between, but the trees are now so large they will need chain saws."
The yellow polygon in Lower Tokai in block A11 indicates the location of the Port Jackson invasion (bottom image). The bright green within the yellow polygon (top image) are the Port Jacksons, with the grey/brown between the fynbos. 
7. Water-use App for Alien Trees
Did you know how much water the pine trees at Tokai are consuming each year? Between 1395-1914 typical home swimming pools. That is 4-5 swimming pools of water every single day.

Check out this amazing app built by Dr Glenn Moncrieff which can estimate the runoff losses due to invasive alien plants! Check out the app here: https://gmoncrieff.shinyapps.io/aliens_waterloss/. 
8. FOTP Hacking Updates
South Africa has many alien plant species, but are some of these doing significant harm to their environment?

Pippa Hudson spoke to the emeritus Professor at the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University - Brian van Wilgen about how to manage invasive plants.

Listen to the full interview here: https://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/458661/how-and-why-should-we-be-managing-invasive-alien-plant-species
How to keep in touch?
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