COMMUNITY participation almost doubled this year as the Trees & Seas Festival ended its week-long conservation programme with a host of activities at Bridgevale Park and Nature Reserve in Durban North.
The festival was a way to celebrate and protect our oceans and green spaces as well as to highlight the importance of conservation, with events split between Burman Bush and Bridgevale.
Durban North resident and endurance swimmer, Sarah Ferguson, who runs a non-profit organisation (NPO), Breathe Ocean Conservation, and who organised the event, said she was blown away by the support.
“This was only our second year hosting the event in Durban, and the support and effort doubled. It was awesome to see so many people give back in the name of conservation. We had a number of activities at Burman Bush, from stargazing to interactive talks, and it was no different at Bridgevale Park and Nature Reserve. We partnered with the Kinship Programme and Enviro Fixers Durban North for tree and grassland planting, alien invasive removal and interactive talks.
“The whole idea behind the Trees & Seas Festival was to re-engage with nature and hopefully make people see the world differently. We also hoped to expose residents to places in their backyard they might not know about like the beautiful park of Bridgevale. I think it was important to highlight green spaces like this and to protect them, especially as we don’t have that many in our suburbs and in our cities. What was most pleasing to see was that there were different groups of people attending each of our events, and we reached a variety of people. The focus this year was trying to get families involved, and I think we succeeded,” she said.
Her comments were echoed by Enviro Fixers Durban North member Helen Koch.
“It really was lovely seeing so many families participate. The two days of activities focused mostly on the grassland initiative as it is one of the most threatened biomes in the park. I also think residents will start to see the change in the park within a season. We planted five species of grass which we hope will attract more insect and bird life. We also had the children from the Kinship Programme make seed bombs among other activities. With the seed bombs, the idea was to use indigenous seeds and get the particpants to throw them in their garden or at other green spaces. We were honoured to work with Sarah and Breathe and lift the profile of this park and reserve,” she said.
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