Sugarbush Ridge Coalition donates equipment to volunteer rangers
The rangers often walk up to 10km in one day while doing their patrols on the Ridge.
Three rangers who have been volunteering their time towards the upkeep of the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden for the last few months have been presented with some much needed equipment by the Sugarbush Ridge Coalition.
The Sugarbush Ridge Coalition (SRC) is made up of the Proteadal Conservation Association (PCA), Wild Orchids Southern Africa (Wosa), Black Eagle Project Roodekrans (BEPR), the Bankenveld Branch of the Botanical Society of SA (Botsoc), and of course the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden. For the past 80 years, the Garden has been the chosen breeding ground of a pair of Verreaux’s eagles, with the pair usually taking up a spot close to Witpoortjie Falls.
At the time of the SRC’s founding towards the end of last year, its most pressing task was to improve security in the focus area and to establish observation posts and patrols that will monitor activity and ensure that users of the Ridge do so in an ecologically responsible manner. The SRC seems to have largely achieved its objective to improve security around the ridge through the deployment of three volunteer rangers who have been patrolling the grounds during weekends for the last three months.
The rangers are simply guards employed by the Garden who have volunteered their time to learn about the surrounding area in order to provide security for the wildlife on the Ridge and grounds at large. The rangers work on a rotational basis, with two working one week, and then one is off the next week, and then back the week after, and so it goes on.
The main objective in the last three months has been to curb the amount of poaching and wood-cutting in the area, as well as the number of 4×4 vehicles and ATVs which drive in the area and contribute to soil erosion. According to Tony De Castro, a consulting ecologist for the Garden and the SRC, the rangers have gone above and beyond the call of duty to achieve what they set out to do. “These guys often walk up to 10km a day, doing amazing work week-in and week-out,” he said. “They’ve gone so far as to put up their own signs on the Ridge, and in doing so have seriously reduced a lot of the problems we used to see.”
In light of their amazing work, the SRC decided to put some of their extra funds towards the rangers’ amazing work by donating all sorts of equipment from uniforms to rucksacks to water bottles, and even tools. The rangers also received books donated by BirdLife South Africa to help them acquire some more knowledge of the surrounding ecosystem.
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