Cape Town – As fire season continues to burn through Cape Town, SANParks announced it would be conducting prescribed burns below Tafelberg Road on the mid-slopes of Table Mountain and in Lower Tokai.
SANParks said March/April 2022 was chosen because it was the latest part of the fire season when conditions were most favourable for conducting prescribed burning and these prescribed ecological burns were planned to occur during the natural summer to autumn fire season for fynbos.
Park neighbours near the burn site were informed about the burn however, SANParks said the actual dates could be given in advance as prescribed burns were only conducted when temperature, wind and humidity conditions were suitable for fire control.
”An announcement will be made on Table Mountain National Parkss (TMNP) Facebook page on the day of each burn.
“Residents who live nearby are advised to keep their windows closed and washing inside on burn days to minimise smoke discomfort,” SANParks spokesperson Lauren Howard-Clayton said.
SANParks said fynbos relied on fires every 10 to 15 years because if fynbos did not burn often enough, proteas and other bushes would get too old and their reproductive ability would decline substantially.
On the other hand, if fynbos burned too often, reseeding shrubs could be lost and resprouting species and alien species could take over – thus prescribed burning was conducted under suitable weather conditions and at appropriate time intervals to encourage reproduction and growth in fynbos species as well as to prevent the build-up of fuel loads.
“While a number of fuel reduction burns have been conducted in the area, this will be the first prescribed burn in the selected block in Lower Tokai,” said Howard-Clayton.
SANParks said in Lower Tokai, the Cape Flats Sand Fynbos was a critically endangered veld type and many of the plants that occurred in this veld type were found nowhere else on earth.
Threatened species in this area included Erica turgida (Macdonald heath), Babiana villosula (Autumn bobbejaantjie), Diastella proteoides (Flats silkypuff), Oxalis minuta (Mini sorrel), Lachnaea capitata (Lanky Stringbark) and Protea scolymocephala (Thistle sugarbush).
“At Tafelberg Road, there is old vegetation below the cable station that has not burned in recent fires.
“Due to the young surrounding vegetation, it is opportune to burn this old vegetation to stimulate regeneration of fynbos and for tourism infrastructure safety,” said Howard-Clayton.
SANParks also advised that fire played a critical role in maintaining the diversity for which the park secured its status as an integral component of the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site.
It was not only a management tool for sustaining the rich diversity of the Fynbos biome but timely prescribed burns also reduced the risks that wildfires posed to property and human lives.