Monday 4 November 2013

History Being Made

Welcome to the Very First Renosterveld Reserve - Ever!
Haarwegskloof

After six years of work and collaboration between the OLCT and the World Wildlife Foundation, the farm, Haarwegskloof, has been purchased and thus preserved into perpetuity. Just a few weeks ago the contract was signed declaring the OLCT managers of the property.

This area of the Overberg (north of De Hoop) has been identified by many different surveys as an area of high conservation priority due to its high botanical diversity, relative abundance of many of the large Threatened birds of the area, and general continuity of indigenous habitats. In conjunction with the veld on two neighboring farms, this area makes up the largest remaining tract of true renosterveld left on Earth. It is a long-term goal of the Trust to secure the veld on the other farms and eventually even to connect this new renosterveld reserve to the great Nature Reserve of De Hoop.

The farm harbors many rare and unusual plants found in few other places (if anywhere). Many of these rare species can be found on the farm's quartz patches. The quartz substrate in these small areas differs enough ecologically from the surrounding shale to host a suite of species not found anywhere else.

Quartz patch on neighboring farm, Plaatjieskraal


Gibbaeum haaglenii, Endangered, Quartz specialist


Ficinia overbergensis, Endangered, Quartz specialist

Odette Curtis, Champion of the Haarwegskloof deal, with Polhillia curtisae
a Critically Endangered legume found nowhere else on Earth but Haarwegskloof 

This purchase not only marks the first renosterveld reserve in history, but another first as well; the farmhouse on Haarwegskloof will soon become a research station dedicated to the research and understanding of the incredibly biodiverse and poorly-understood lowland renosterveld. 

Haarwegskloof Farmhouse and future research station

This really does mark an important step toward the understanding and conservation of a critically endangered habitat within a changing landscape.

I'm Mobile!



Who would've thought my first car would be any of the following - manual, a pick-up, or driver's side right? 

After months of learning the region, sorting out an international drivers license (only to find out I don't actually need one), and a few driving lessons, I finally picked up my own personal vehicle today. Thanks to Mick Dalton and the Overberg Crane Group for generously donating the use of their bakkie (pick-up) to the project. I look forward to collaborating with you to help map the land-use patterns of the large threatened birds of the Overberg (namely the black harrier, blue crane, Denham's bustard, and karoo and black korhan).

Beyond becoming a master navigator, the past few months have been an epic scramble to photograph as many renosterveld remnants and species as possible while the veld is in full bloom. It has been a spectacular opportunity to witness the diversity of bulb plants that the renosterveld has to offer (it is the bulb capitol of the world, you know). To date I've taken over 3,000 photos and am back-logged a few hundred photos that I haven't even had a chance to edit yet, let alone share. My next major focus, as the flowering season slows, is to get these photos onto iSpot and into a format easily accessible to the public. So keep watching your emails and I'll send out another update soon!