State to crack down on invasive aliens

When I think about it, I am filled with such rage

THE government is to crack down on peninsula landowners who have failed to clear invasive alien vegetation on their properties along the urban fringe, the Department of Environmental Affairs said yesterday.

This comes in the wake of last week’s destructive fires, fuelled in many places by dense stands of alien vegetation – which burns 10 times hotter and fiercer than fynbos.

Landowners who failed to clear aliens may also find themselves facing legal claims from those whose houses burnt in the fire.

The department’s deputy director-general for environmental programmes, Guy Preston, said yesterday they would be serving notices on landowners along the urban fringe, instructing them to clear invasive aliens such as Port Jackson, wattle, rooikrans and pine.

If landowners did not comply, the department itself may clear the land – at the landowners’ costs.

“Wherever firefighters had problems last week, it was where there were invasive aliens. We will be serving notices to landowners on the peninsula around the urban interface. We’re looking for a systematic clearing of these aliens on private land,” Preston said.

Regulations regarding 106 declared invasive alien species were published in October under the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act. These require landowners to eradicate these invasive plants. And under the National Veld and Forest Fire Act, landowners in certain areas are legally bound to be members of a fire protection association, put in firebreaks and clear invasive alien plants.

“In some of the larger properties on the urban edge, landowners have done the first two, but have not cleared the aliens. If fire gets into invasive wattle, you cannot even get close to it, it’s so intense,” Preston said.

He added that another major problem was that many of the aliens, just as fynbos does, needed fire for seeds to germinate.

“This presents the single biggest threat now – the seedlings of the aliens. If they are not gotten rid of, they will turn into dense stands of aliens. Clearing these seedlings on Table Mountain National Park land will not be under about R10 million. This will push the cost of the fire to SANParks close to R20m: R5m in damages to infrastructure and just under R5m for the cost of helicopters and manpower.

John Parker, chairman of the Chapman’s Peak Neighbourhood Watch in Noordhoek, who helped fight the fires, said last Wednesday when the wind had changed, the fire had crept into land above Chapman’s Peak Drive in Noordhoek, which was heavily invested with alien vegetation.

Parker said tall pine and Port Jackson trees on Serina and De Goede Hoop land had led to a “major fire” that jumped Chapman’s Peak Drive and threatened houses. He said that “fiery embers” had been carried by strong winds into gardens and on to houses.

Noordhoek resident Patrick Wright said yesterday residents had spent years trying to get landowners to clear aliens, which had become a major threat on the night of the Chapman’s Peak firestorm.

“They must start getting rid of those aliens this week, because they still threaten us. There are 2 000 people living in Chapman’s Peak. When I think about it, I am filled with such rage.”