Melville Koppies: Conservation
In the period between 1959 and 1993 the conservation of
Melville Koppies was overseen by the Johannesburg Council for Natural
History which acted in an advisory capacity to the City Council.
The focus was only on what is now called Melville Koppies
Central, and there was not always a harmonious relationship with the
City. The JCNH did pioneering work in producing a guide book,
establishing a "nature trail", and starting a policy of "open days".
The guide book is still in print, the nature trail still exists, and we
have continued and extended the policy of open days.
In 1993 the situation changed when the City initiated a joint
venture scheme, and the Melville Koppies Management Committee was
established.
Suddenly the whole approach changed. The Koppies were not
managed remotely through the City Council. Richard Hall and David
Hirsch, representing the Botanical Society, took a very "hands on" way
of managing the Koppies.
There was a de facto incorporation of the "Louw
Geldenhuys Viewsite" (which we now call MK East) and the ridges behind
Westpark Cemetery (now called MK West) into the managed area. This
immediately increased the managed area from 50 to 160 hectares.
Richard Hall does not like being photographed
but we have taken the liberty of cropping this picture from a group
picture on the Koppies. We hope he will forgive us.
Photo: Maria Cabaço
Richard Hall devoted the next 25 years to the Koppies. He
combined a passion for nature with a certain cussedness (a word which
would horrify him) which amounted to a driving force without which not
much would have been done.
The immediate issues were many. There was a huge problem of
alien invasive plants. There were about 70 active or abandoned squatter
sites on MK West. Paths on all three sections were erosion nightmares.
MK East was little more than a rubbish dump for the neighbours.
Richard spent almost all his time working on the Koppies,
with the assistance of David Mpilo, a Council worker. He also began
monthly volunteer work parties which he organised and passed on to
Norman Baines until they ended in 2006.
One of the first tasks was to get rid of Australian black
wattles (Acacia mearnsii) and conifers. Both these invasive
aliens leave a desolation behind them, so once they were felled
hundreds of hours had to be spent by Richard himself and by the monthly
volunteer work parties in rehabilitating those areas. On MK West there
were three major black wattle sites which took years to get under
control. In these areas there was annual regrowth of the wattles and an
invasion of pioneer species - also aliens like blackjacks and khaki
weed - which have been eradicated and are now being replaced by South
African grasses.
"Pioneer" species are tough plants which move in to begin
soil regeneration. Although alien plants are eager pioneers, we have
plenty of our own indigenous grasses and forbs which fill this niche in
the process scientists call "succession".
In the years immediately following 1993 the squatter problem
was fraught. A welcome new political situation brought with it hard
choices for conservationists. People squatting on the Koppies quite
rightly asked "where else can I live?" - a question hard to answer in
those years, and even now when housing for the poor is a huge issue for
government.
For volunteers clearing up the debris of a squatter camp was
appalling. Norman Baines had a one ton bakkie (in the USA a "pickup
truck") in those days, and every volunteer weekend it would be loaded
with debris like old mattresses, bottles, abandoned clothes, and
offloaded at one or other municipal dump site. Eventually the problem
came under control. Squatting still happens, but it is dealt with
quickly with the help of the Metro Police and Johannesburg City Parks.
The intractable problem of compassion remains, but that is another
issue altogether.
Those were the "legacy" issues. There are other issues which
will never go away. Trying to maintain a completely indigenous nature
reserve in the middle of a suburban area is hard. There are weeds. They
are brought into the nature reserve by the wind, by birds, and
sometimes by humans.
Bugweed
Photo: Wendy Carstens
There are two categories of weeds. There are transformers and
indicators. Transformers are trees like the Bugweed - Solanum
mauritianum - which if not controlled can take over and transform a
landscape, as it has done in parts of Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. The
seeds are spread by birds, and since there is a very low public
awareness of these things, bugweed grows illegally in many gardens, and
even on Council property. So the birds bring them in and we pull them
out. In the early days they were so large that we had to tackle them
with a saw, with herbicide, or a pick axe. Now there may be some large
ones lurking - 160 hectares is a large area - but mostly the new ones
can be pulled out by hand.
Another threat is the "mothcatcher" creeper which if
uncontrolled flourishes in the forested areas and can completely take
over the trees. In the summer of 2008/2009 over 1 500 pods of the
mothcatcher were removed from the Koppies. This again is an alien
invader, illegal to have on your property, largely unrecognised by the
public, and brought into the nature reserve by wind-borne seeds.
The "indicator" species are alien invaders like blackjack and
khakiweed. These plants flourish in disturbed soil. One view is that
you can just leave them to do their work as pioneer species, and they
will slowly be succeeded by other species - hopefully indigenous ones.
Another approach is that life is too short, and to get rid of them.
This is our approach. In the early days we used herbicide. Now we find
that hand weeding is more effective.
The overall effect is that we increase biodiversity. Where
the aliens go the indigenous species move in: sedges, grasses, and the Leonotis
species especially has emerged as a pioneer.
Wendy Carstens began to work with Richard Hall quite early
on. From 1997 she worked with him for two days a week. Richard was not
an easy mentor, or taskmaster. But Wendy has a certain cussedness to
match his.
From left to right, Wendy Carstens, Lucky
Mdluli, Joseph Kasonga, and Clement Ndlovu, armed with traditional
weapons. Lucky and Clement are the permanent conservation team members.
Photo: Norman Baines
In 2001 Wendy became chairperson. She took over Richard's
work, and carried it further. Because there were more visitors there
were more donations, and it was possible to think about employing
conservation workers. The volunteer conservation work parties at
weekends were losing support and were not managing to keep up with the
conservation challenges.
By 2003 Wendy was managing to employ casual workers for
conservation. In the years since then she has built up a conservation
team, in steady employment, and paid through donations. Wendy works
with them and directs them every week day. The guys on the team are now
assured of an income, breakfast, lunch, clothes and equipment, and all
are now on a year's contract. They also have a really good knowledge of
conservation and its challenges. In addition they have been given
officially recognised security training, and change roles when we have
visitors.
This is a big step forward from when Richard Hall was working
alone on the Central Section with one City Parks employee until 2005.
The conservation team spends the summers fighting off the
invader plants. In winter there is more time to focus on the
maintenance of paths. Clearing litter on Melville Koppies West is a
year-long occupation. Maintaining paths is important on the areas where
there is free public access. Paths made by people also tend to be the
routes followed by runoff water, and become erosion gullies if not
controlled. The only thing to do is build and maintain "stone bars".
These are low barriers of stone and earth, carefully angled to divert
water off the path and into the veld. They are disturbed by
pedestrians, and destroyed by unwelcome intruders like mountain bikers,
so they are a continual concern.
Another conservation challenge is the Westdene spruit which
runs through Melville Koppies West and Central. It rises in the
Westdene Dam, about a kilometre south of the Koppies, runs in concrete
channels for much of its length, and is fed by municipal storm water
drains. As a result it brings into the Koppies suburban debris, so that
it has to be cleared of plastic and other rubbish regularly. The
suburban runoff has increased over the years due to weather change and
the "hardening" of the surfaces in the suburbs - more paving and less
lawn - and the banks are being eroded. This problem is beyond our
control, and we can only watch as the banks become undermined, roots
are exposed, and trees collapse.
Clement Ndlovu and Lucky Mdluli.
Photo: Wendy Carstens
The three permanent workers, Lucky Mdluli, Clement Ndlovu,
and Best Ndlovu are also members of the African Independent Churches.
They have worked with us long enough to get a thorough understanding of
the flora and the conservation practices we follow. They are a real
asset to the Koppies community. Because we have the capacity to work on
the Koppies every day the whole 160 hectares is continuously monitored.
Including security costs, the monthly maintainenance of the
Koppies costs around R 22,000. All this is derived from donations.
We depend greatly on the income we get from school groups and
other group visits. The open days on Sundays are a 50 year old
tradition which is valuable and we will not abandon, ever. But we pay
for security on those days and usually the donations do not cover our
costs. The guides are volunteers.
So that is the situation at the moment - a small island of
conserved land, teetering on solvency.
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