The Pine Tree Project

Dave wrote: Hi Viking. I'm thinking of doing Tseke in a month or two. Are these juveniles relatively accessible? And whereabouts are they?

They are a few hundred metre's up the pass after Tseke hut, on the bank on the left of the stream...pretty easy to spot and fairly easy to access I think...maybe a bit of a scramble up the bank.

I also noticed a few pines dotted around the Cobham area last weekend.

Macc wrote: I also noticed a few pines dotted around the Cobham area last weekend.

Where at Cobham Macc?
SingleSpeed, Richard Hunt and I did a recce earlier in the year, up Nhlabeni, to Lakes Cave, and down via Policeman and Titty.
SingleSpeed spotted one, which he felled..

Papa Dragon wrote: Where at Cobham Macc?

On the day 1 section of the Giant's Cup. Not exactly sure, just remember seeing them and wonder how the hell they got so far south.

Thanks, we'll check them out sometime..

Macc wrote: just remember seeing them and wonder how the hell they got so far south.

There is one right on the trail on Bushman's Nek Pass, and one in a gully near there... still to be treated..

Papa Dragon wrote: Evening all

Our next pine hike is scheduled for 18, 19, and 20th August. (Friday to Sunday).

Monk's Cowl area, Vaalribbokkop/Hospitaalspruit. We will hopefully have this area clear after this hike,
but these trees have a way of popping up in surprising places!!

PM me if you're keen

Thanks..

Just a reminder, I think there are 5 of us so far, and a couple more interested..

5 of us left Drak Sun with our lift up to the base of Jacob's Ladder on Friday morning, 18 August. JulieMK, Richard, SingleSpeed, saros and I.
It was a beautiful clear morning after the snowfall on Thursday, and the air was still quite chilly.

This was the sight that greeted us when we got to the top of Jacob's Ladder:


From there we made our way towards Hospitaalspruit Cave, wher we knew of quite a few trees that needed treating.


We had a very productive day, then made our way down to Vaalribbokkop cave at about 15h30, where we were to spend the night.
Macc and Jess were due to join us at Vaalribbokkop Cave late on Friday afternoon, but when they still hadn't arrived by about 7ish, we assumed that their plans had changed and they weren't going to make it. However, at about 7:30, we spotted their lights approaching, and they joined us for the evening. Fortunately, on both evenings, the breeze dropped down, and it wasn't too cold.

Macc on their walk in. The area had recently burned, which is ugly and drab, but makes for easy walking. (Photo:Jess)


The next morning we left bright and early, to tackle a couple of lone monsters that we had spotted to the Northeast of Vaalribbokkop Cave.

Macc on his way up to the first tree. (Photo:Jess)


While the rest of the group made their way to he first tree, SingleSpeed and I did some follow-ups at a previous site


This is important, as you can see that this tree, which was felled, had fallen against a big pine, so not fallen down. It had a new area of growth on both sides, and was very much alive. This was ring-barked and ringbarking touched up on another big tree at the same site. These trees were ringbarked 14 months ago, and most show signs of dying.

By lunchtime we had finished in that area, we made our way to VRK cave, collected our packs, and headed to Stable Cave.
We again left early on Sunday morning, to taclkle what we thought were a couple of pines over the ridge at the top of Jacob's Ladder. Our hearts sank when we got over the ridge, this is a massive cluster, and will take quite a bit of work. We did ringbark the mother tree, a giant, and felled quite a few juveniles, and pulled seedlings. Reluctantly we had to leave the rest for a future expedition..


JulieMK and Jess clearing the cambium from one of the bigger trees (Photo:Macc)


Stats for this hike: 10 large ringbarked, 13 medium felled, 106 juveniles felled, 158 seedlings handpulled. Thanks to all for another productive, fun hike.

I am also very pleased to report that the area marked on the VE Pine Map as Vaalribbokkop area, has, to the best of our knowledge, been treated completely. Obviously, follow ups will be necessary, but for the next hike we will concentrate on the large cluster over the ridge at Jacob's Ladder. I would like to thank everyone that has been involved in this effort, it just goes to show that little by little, we can make a difference. I would urge anyone who is remotely thinking of getting involved, to do so. With more manpower, we can achieve more, quicker. Thanks

It was great to have Jess, macc and Richard on their first pine hike, hopefully we will see plenty more of them!!

Papa Dragon wrote: Stats for this hike: 10 large ringbarked, 13 medium felled, 106 juveniles felled, 158 seedlings handpulled.

That is very impressive, well done guys!

So if a fully grown pine uses roughly 200 litres of water daily (I forget the exact number, but I know it is around there), and lets guess 150 litres for medium, 50 for juveniles and 1 litre for seedlings - that is 9408 litres of water a day. Quite something what 7 people can achieve in a weekend!

Here is an image prepared by a modest, talented member of our group, which shows the work done on the pines in the Hospitalspruit catchment area.