The Pine Tree Project

A brief comment on the pines in Cathedral Peak. Going back to the 1950s, an area of about 100 ha was aforested with pine (pinus patula) in the catchment just beyond Mike's Pass. The streamflow was monitored and by the 1970s, the flow had reduced considerably as the trees had reached maturity and were transpiring a lot of water. The forest idea was abondoned because of the negative impact on the water resources and the trees progressively removed from the 1980s or so. I'd guess the remaining distant pines stem from the 4 decades of pine forest. I find it surprising that there aren't even more pines in the areas reported by BergAttie. I wonder how agressively they spread? Not that I am advocating leaving them there.

There was also a large area of trees near where the golf course is at CP (can't remember if these were pines).

The area where the Gof course is now was Black Wattle mostly. Pine trees don't spread as agressivley as for instance wattle and blue gum - especially in colder environments. Pince seeds can be distributed over large distances though due to their winged seeds. There are large Sappi plantations about 30km's from Cathedral as teh crow flies - these will constantly seed the area. Once they have taken hold it is a problem - the longer it is left the more work and money to get rid of them. Pince

Hey - I love the idea of a VE pine hack! As BergAttie says, it would be a great way to give something back and an excellent excuse to meet up and explore the little berg some more

Agreed on that we should co-ordinate with the current EKZNW initiatives and ensure the proper techniques are used. Keep us posted - I'm in

Yes, BergAttie has a good point there. If possible, I'm in as well.

There are also some big planations (not sure if they are pine) near
29 02 11 S
29 29 29 E
that is east of Monks Cowl and 16 km from the escarpment in the Injesuthi/Monks Cowl boundary.
I wondered if anyone had seen alien vege in this area?

I like the moment building here guys! Lets wait to hear back from EKZNW via domsmooth. If no action from them and we can help I offer to coordinate teh project from Estcourt. I will eb able to get some locals involved as well.

Any feedback yet domsmooth?