Park to remove ‘aliens’
Control of invasive vegetation resident manager’s primary goal.
The resident manager of the Delta Environmental Centre (https://www.deltaenviro.org.za/), says that his major project for 2014 is to remove and replace the invasive vegetation in the park.
“The vegetation in the area is almost totally exotic,” Geoff Lockwood explained. “We are trying to get some control over the invasive vegetation.”
Lockwood however must rely on volunteers and donations from the public to be successful. “City Parks do not have the staff, money or expertise to pull the right stuff out. This has happened in other parks as well, but private citizens have helped tackle some of the projects.”
His primary concern is the spreading of verbena plants. “Verbena is a South American plant and it is extremely invasive. Although it may die in winter the root structure stays in place and grows bigger,” he explained. “They have slowly spread and if it carries on that way the natural grass in some areas in the park will become virtually valueless for the birds we want to conserve.”
Of the about 210 species of bird in the park, a significant number may have to move away from the park, including guinea fowl, spurfowl, owls, kites, long-crested eagles, bishops and weavers. Verbena has a purple flower and can stand up to one and a half a metres tall. “Removing the verbena will turn around the deterioration in grassland quality and that will be good for the birds and mammals in the park.”
Lockwood suggests two ways that people can help. People can either volunteer for a couple of hours, and under guidance remove invasive vegetation; or sponsor a worker for a day for R180. Shirley Tebbutt is a volunteer at Delta Park and publishes the online Delta Park newsletter (www.deltadamcleanup.com).
Tebbutt says, “There is a job for everybody. If someone does not want to physically pull plants out the ground they can remove it after someone else pulls.”
Details: Shirley Tebbutt, etebbutt@worldonline.co.za
