150 Indigenous Trees Destroyed in the Drakensberg
25 Aug 2009 21:02 #579
by kobus
150 Indigenous Trees Destroyed in the Drakensberg was created by kobus
This thread discusses the Content article:
150 Indigenous Trees Destroyed in the Drakensberg
I get furious when I hear stories like this. It is in my mind completely unacceptable and certainly this contractor received some form of training prior to starting the work.
Will they be held accountable? What can be done? How will this be prevented in future?
Kobus
I get furious when I hear stories like this. It is in my mind completely unacceptable and certainly this contractor received some form of training prior to starting the work.
Will they be held accountable? What can be done? How will this be prevented in future?
Kobus
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25 Aug 2009 23:42 #582
by intrepid
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
Replied by intrepid on topic Re:150 Indigenous Trees Destroyed in the Drakensberg
Seems like the authorities have finally commented on the issue. Though no official statement has been published on their website, I came across
this article
in The Witness.
According to the report no trees were chopped down, but 104 small trees were ringbarked and poisoned.
The following actions were taken:
* Disciplinary action has been taken against the WfW contractor and has been removed from the department’s list of contractors.
* The WfW project manager responsible for the area has been given a written warning.
* WfW will provide 200 indigenous trees to be planted by the hotel.
* Monitoring and follow-up visits will be done.
Some preventative measures which they will implement were also listed in the article.
Is the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs justified in saying that the media reports were "somewhat exaggerated"? Maybe the technical details were not quite correct, but we still mourn the loss of a good number of indigenous trees - that should never be downplayed!
Allegedly the incident was discovered because someone spotted planks that had been cut from the trees being transported out of the area. Rumours or truth - will we ever know?
According to the report no trees were chopped down, but 104 small trees were ringbarked and poisoned.
The following actions were taken:
* Disciplinary action has been taken against the WfW contractor and has been removed from the department’s list of contractors.
* The WfW project manager responsible for the area has been given a written warning.
* WfW will provide 200 indigenous trees to be planted by the hotel.
* Monitoring and follow-up visits will be done.
Some preventative measures which they will implement were also listed in the article.
Is the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs justified in saying that the media reports were "somewhat exaggerated"? Maybe the technical details were not quite correct, but we still mourn the loss of a good number of indigenous trees - that should never be downplayed!
Allegedly the incident was discovered because someone spotted planks that had been cut from the trees being transported out of the area. Rumours or truth - will we ever know?
Take nothing but litter, leave nothing but a cleaner Drakensberg.
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26 Aug 2009 00:40 #589
by domsmooth
Replied by domsmooth on topic Re:150 Indigenous Trees Destroyed in the Drakensberg
As they say in the classics, where there is smoke, there is fire. If there are planks, someone is making money from hacking down Yellow Woods.
200 to replace even 104 is not enough! Would prefer 500 personally. At a general recruitment rate, especially seen as they will be planted by the hotel and not a specialist ecologist, there will be some loss, and if 104 recruit from the 200 planted, that will be some miracle. Hopefully they are planted back where they were hacked down, and not in some grassland area which would normally not have had yellow woods, just to beautify the gardens around the hotel!!!
200 to replace even 104 is not enough! Would prefer 500 personally. At a general recruitment rate, especially seen as they will be planted by the hotel and not a specialist ecologist, there will be some loss, and if 104 recruit from the 200 planted, that will be some miracle. Hopefully they are planted back where they were hacked down, and not in some grassland area which would normally not have had yellow woods, just to beautify the gardens around the hotel!!!
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