Working in defense of Winklespruit dunes

THE Dune Defence Project hosted a community meeting at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Warner Beach on Saturday, June 4, to try and get a consensus about the importance of the project’s work.

ALSO READ: Support Dune Defence project’s sand dune rehabilitation

The conservation project operates from a property on Ellcock Road in Winklespruit, owned by Jan and Zeele Pauw, who started the project of rehabilitating sand dunes 15 years ago.

Laura Taylor, an environmental consultant, who has been commissioned by the Dune Defence Project, made a presentation, highlighting the importance of preserving and rehabilitating sand dunes, and their importance in the greater ecosystem.

In her presentation, Laura said without the stabilising effect of vegetation, it is easily moved by the wind. She said the shortage of sand has been accelerated by illegal sand mining and that has been going on in the rivers that flow into the oceans.

“Dune vegetation is recognised widely as an integrated botanical system exhibiting interdependence in both community structure and floristics and providing food and shelter for a variety of fauna. The need to protect, maintain and restore these intrinsic ecosystem values is a key element in conserving biodiversity,” said Laura.

Google Earth photographs taken in 2004 and this year show that there is a visible improvement in dune rehabilitation along the Winklespruit coastline. Laura said there are measures that the project hope will address many of the problems.

“It is hoped that the project can be extended from its present end point northwards and that more property owners will support it and help cover the financial costs. Evicting homeless squatters from the dunes is an ongoing and difficult challenge. More signage needs to be placed to prevent pedestrian traffic across the dunes and to discourage illegal dumping of garden waste,” she said.

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