|
Very high rainfall in early July resulted in the
water levels in Rietvlei rising to its highest for
several years. At MAC the level rose to 3m above
mean sea level. During last year’s floods the
highest recorded level was 2.8m above MSL. There are
some great pictures of the vlei and river filled to
the brim on our website. |
 |
|
Walks & Talks |
|
Our next walk will be on the old Kynoch site on the
corner of Plattekloof Road and Koeberg Road
(entrance opposite Chevron (Caltex) Refinery on
Plattekloof Rd). Development on this site will
commence within a few months, so we would like to
view the rehabilitation work done on the Duikersvlei
Stream that runs through the site. You may remember
that a couple of years ago we had an evening talk by
Martin Burr about this rehabilitation. Our walk will
be on Sunday afternoon 24 August - meet at the
entrance to the site at 15h00. If you have any
queries phone Pat on 021 557 3748 / 083 701 4318 or
Niel on 021 552 8305 / 082 926 0039 |
|
At our evening talk on 24 June the two students
working at Rietvlei Wetlands Reserve gave a short
presentation of their projects; Sandiso Kraai also
reported on how his work in the Diep River corridor
north of Rietvlei was progressing. This was an
informative evening but unfortunately only a few
brave Friends ventured out in the cold weather. |
|
Unfortunately we had to cancel the walk to Zoarvlei
because of heavy rains – it turned out that the
weather was actually very pleasant later that Sunday
afternoon, but it was very wet underfoot and the
paths were rather muddy. We’ll reschedule this for
later in the year. |
| We
would really like to have some feedback from
you, our members. What walks and talks do
you enjoy and what days and times suit you
best. Please send us an email with your
ideas!! |
|
|
|
|
Rietvlei Visitor Facility Upgrading |
|
On 31 August our reserve manager Koos Retief
delivered a presentation with proposals for
upgrading the visitor facilities at Rietvlei Wetland
Reserve. The City Council has provided funds during
the current financial year; and the Ward Councillor,
Cllr Liz Berry, has also made funds available from
her Ward Councillors allocation. This ward
allocation of R 100 000 came about following a
request from Friends of Rietvlei to Cllr Berry. The
presentation was well attended by Friends and
members of Milnerton Aquatic Club (MAC). |
|
The recreational areas where upgrades could take
place were identified as the area next to our
Education Centre, at the fishing sites, on the
peninsula or on the western shore of the North Vlei.
Many MAC members wanted the area on the peninsula to
be upgraded for braais and picnics. Friends
suggested that the area near our Education Centre be
upgraded for picnicing. This would be especially
useful for our visiting school children. It is hoped
to provide seats, braai facilities and rubbish bins
with a uniform appearance. |
|
As the funds are not sufficient to upgrade all the
visitor facilities at Rietvlei, a small working
group was formed to assist Koos in deciding
priorities and how to tackle this important task.
Koos is aiming to complete the upgrading during the
next few months, well before the year-end holiday
season. |
|
The Friends will also contribute to this process –
we will be tackling the information shelters which
are in need of a coat of varnish, and also supply
the posters that go inside these shelters – these
are being updated at present. |
|
|
|
WESSA News |
|
The WESSA AGM on 26 June was well-attended. The
keynote speaker was Jan Glazewski, Professor of
Environmental Law at UCT who discussed several
environmental court cases and how these were
resolved in court. His conclusion was that an
environmental court case is rarely decided on
environmental merits, but most usually on whether
the correct procedures laid down by law has been
followed in the processes that gave rise to the
issue of conflict. |
|
On Saturday 9 August there was a Friends Workshop at
Bracken Nature Reserve. This reserve is in
Brackenfell, between the suburbs of Protea Heights,
Northpine and Scotsdene. Patrick Dowling gave a
short presentation on the importance and limitations
of water resources in the Western Cape and again
stressed that measures that save water and decrease
demand is the only way to safeguard our natural
resources. |
|
After the presentation there was a short walk in the
Bracken reserve. There are wonderful views from the
top of the hill, site of several water reservoirs. A
large portion of the reserve (half the original
hill) had been an old granite quarry that was then
used as a solid waste dumpsite. This has now been
capped and is presently being rehabilitated, but it
is a slow process. It is a very interesting reserve
and well worth a visit. Some of us made a quick trip
to Perdekop, which is the site of some amazing
Swartland Granite Renosterveld. |
|
|
|
Membership Renewal |
|
Membership numbers of Friends of Rietvlei seem to be
dropping, please encourage friends and neighbours to
join up. As a Friends group we need to be vigilant
and have our voice heard in various forums – this
voice can only be effective if we have a substantial
membership to back it. Those of you who have not yet
renewed your membership this year, please do so now. |
|
|
|
Friends of Rietvlei Constitution |
|
You may wonder what the process is with our new
constitution which we accepted at the AGM. The first
step was to submit the constitution to WESSA for
ratification. In due course we received their
written ratification of our new constitution. We
have now submitted an application for registration
as a nonprofit organisation with the Directorate of
Nonprofit Organisations in the Department of Social
Welfare. We understand that it can take up to nine
months for such registration to go through, so we
will just have to be patient. |
|
|
|
Milnerton Conservation Area ( MCA) |
|
The Milnerton Conservation Area in Royal Ascot is in
need of Friends. Rather than start a new Friends
group, your committee has decided that Friends of
Rietvlei will take this important conservation area
under its wing. The site is in the Rietvlei
catchment area and, although now cut off from
Rietvlei, was part of the Rietvlei environment
before development isolated the site. |
|
We thus urge people living in Royal Ascot who are
keen to assist in the conservation of this little
jewel, to join the Friends of Rietvlei so that your
voices can be heard. |
|
Milnerton Conservation Area featured at the recent
Fynbos Forum – a gathering of academics, nature
conservators, managers and amateurs with a keen
interest in the fynbos floral kingdom. The Fynbos
Forum met in Oudtshoorn this year during early
August. Koos Retief, Rietvlei & Surrounds Reserve
Manager did a presentation on the conservation
efforts taking place in the MCA. Jeremy Keyser, the
nature conservator who manages the area on behalf of
the MCA Environmental Monitoring Committee ( a
committee set up in compliance with approvals given
for development of Royal Ascot) had a poster on
display. At the 2007 Fynbos Forum the first poster
on the area was presented. It is hoped that the two
posters will be displayed in local libraries
shortly. |
|
|
|
Estuary Management Plan |
|
Many of you will know of, or recall, some of the
recent environmental “problems” that Rietvlei has
experienced. There was the massive fish die-off in
the North Vlei in December 2006, in early 2007 there
were episodes of blue-green algal blooms, also in
the North Vlei. The Central Pan has received
increased sediment over the years, which blows off
in dust clouds during very windy, hot spells in late
summer. The Milnerton Lagoon has become unusable for
recreation due to high levels of E-coli and Faecal
coliforms. All these impacts show a
wetland/estuarine system under stress from
stormwater, effluent and sediment inflows. |
|
The City of Cape Town set aside R 100 000 in the
2007/8 financial year to contribute to the budget
being allocated by the CAPE Estuaries Program for an
Estuary Management Plan. This project has finally
got off the ground by the appointment of Lynette
Jackson and a team from Peak Consulting to undertake
the first phase of this plan. Lynette and her team
have been gathering up all the relevant studies,
documents and information on Rietvlei to ensure that
background information that is available is not
repeated. This will then determine what gaps there
are and what may be needed to compile the Estuary
Management Plan. |
|
It is also the intention to initially look at the
particular problems of water quality and
sedimentation of the system and to recommend some
interventions that may be taken in the short term. |
|
Lynette hopes to have a public meeting on 15
September 2008 in the evening but as yet we have no
confirmation of meeting time and venue. In the
meantime diarise 15 September and watch the press or
our website for further details. This study will be
important to guide the future management
interventions at Rietvlei and all input will be
welcome. |
|
|
| Thanks go to Chevron Refinery for
sponsoring envelopes for the posted newsletter. |
