Marloth Park Management Plan. - Nkomazi Local Municipality

Recommendations

Info

This also leads to a reduction in habitat for associated invertebrate and vertebrate fauna, fungi, bryophytes and other lower plants. Palatable indigenous plant species are often replaced by unpalatable alien invasive species. This not only has implications for the ecosystem, but also for the lands agricultural potential. Strategies for the control of noxious and invasive plant species The general approach to any infestation is to delineate a block or land-unit, with the intention of dealing with sparse infestations first. However, due to the fragmented distribution of species and densities in a variety of different habitats, a more ecological approach is advocated. The primary goal of the ecological approach is to conserve and sustain complete ecosystems, delineated using topographical or cadastral features and vegetation boundaries or ecotones. Most infestations by environmental weeds cannot be treated in one year due to physical and financial constraints. It is therefore, important that priority areas be identified. Areas falling outside these priority areas are usually not ecologically or economically important enough to warrant the effort. This is the case with highly disturbed areas such as along fences and roadsides, which will always be prone to weed invasions. It is thus considered more effective to concentrate conservation efforts and expenses on viable ecosystems, while living with environmental weeds in non-priority areas. UNDESIRABLE PLANT MANAGEMENT Management practices can be used to kill or suppress environmental weeds. Mechanical, chemical, biological and cultural control constitutes the four basic methods by which populations of noxious and invasive plants are managed. Often a more integrated control approach is advocated, where pest populations are managed using all suitable techniques to reduce the populations and maintain them at acceptable levels. To achieve effective control of environmental weeds, three distinct phases need to be implemented, i.e. initial, follow-up and maintenance phases. Initial control aims at removing the original infestation, and is usually implemented in one year. Follow-up is usually implemented annually from the second year, as copious numbers of seedlings will emerge in the treated areas due to the residual weed-seed banks. This follow-up phase must be continued until population numbers decline to a level where they can be controlled with minimum input and effort. The maintenance phase is reached when areas require low annual or biannual commitment to prevent re-infestation. Control programmes should strive to reach maintenance control and not total eradication, which is considered unrealistic. © Ecological Associates/ Marloth Park 93
Management plans need to be reviewed and updated annually as it is often impractical to treat all undesirable plant species or infested areas in the same year, and also because it is impossible to accurately predict weed successional responses. Planning errors must be expected, and if the management plans are not updated annually, it must be expected that these errors will be compounded over time and seriously affect control reliability. It is considered prudent that a weed control programme not be implemented unless a commitment of time, labour and finances is allocated to follow-up control operations. Control measures A number of infestations of exotic plants occur on Marloth Park, some of which were planted purposely in the past and others, which have spread naturally into the area. Some of these infestations need to receive immediate attention in order to prevent further encroachment of the natural vegetation. However, it must be emphasized that success will not be achieved without co-operation of the property owners, where education and understanding of the implications is considered crucial. It is recommended that control measures be implemented to improve the vegetation cover and where possible implement drastic reclamation measures to replace the herbaceous layer. It is recommended that invasive plant control measures be implemented in co-operation with the Working-for-Water programme. The follow-up phase can then be implemented and sustained by the owners. The following noxious and invasive plant species found on Marloth Park are considered undesirable, have reached encroaching densities, or must be eradicated by law: Agave sisalana This plant classified as an invasive weed species (Category 2) and must be eradicated. The sisal is recognized by the basal rosette arrangement of succulent sword-shaped leaves with a sharp terminal spine (Appendix 4). These leaves can exceed 2 m in length. Propagation is achieved by suckers from the base and by small plants that replace the flowers. The size and number of these sisal plants are currently limited to gardens in Marloth Park. It is recommended that the sisal plants are cut down and the roots dug out and disposed off at a garden refuse facility. Follow-up treatment can be required to ensure that remaining root fragments do not propagate. Alternatively, the central rosette can be removed and chemically treated by injecting the crown with MSMA ® , a registered photosynthesis inhibitor. The plant can then be mechanically removed and disposed of after it has died. © Ecological Associates/ Marloth Park 94
Page 1 and 2:
Ecological Associates Environmental
Page 3 and 4:
THE ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABLE BROWSE
Page 5 and 6:
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Location
Page 7 and 8:
LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: A li
Page 9 and 10:
Three different scenarios are analy
Page 11 and 12:
Ecosystems disturbed by clearing op
Page 13 and 14:
INTRODUCTION Although only a few ve
Page 15 and 16:
Figure 1: Location of the Marloth P
Page 17 and 18:
GEOMORPHOLOGY Looking down from the
Page 19 and 20:
Figure 4: Geology of the Marloth Pa
Page 21 and 22:
Tonalitic granite and gneiss A sect
Page 23 and 24:
Figure 6: Soil depth of the Marloth
Page 25 and 26:
Figure 7: Land Types of the Marloth
Page 27 and 28:
Figure 8: Land use in the Marloth P
Page 29 and 30:
A 610.1 B 104.0 C 7.4 D 19.9 E 39.8
Page 31 and 32:
INTRODUCTION VEGETATION CLASSIFICAT
Page 33 and 34:
METHOD For an initial and broad sca
Page 35 and 36:
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Analysis and
Page 37 and 38:
The dominant grass species are broa
Page 39 and 40:
The characteristic tree species are
Page 41 and 42:
VELD CONDITION ASSESSMENT AND THE C
Page 43 and 44:
Degradation gradients are models th
Page 45 and 46:
The nearest grass species to each s
Page 47 and 48:
Calculation of grazing capacity The
Page 49 and 50: Table 2: Contribution of ecological
Page 51 and 52: Table 3: Grazing capacities for the
Page 53 and 54: THE ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABLE BROWSE
Page 55 and 56: X Y D1 Y Dimensional measurements:
Page 57 and 58: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The browsing
Page 59 and 60: Table 6: Browsing capacities for th
Page 61 and 62: INTRODUCTION ESTIMATION OF HERBACEO
Page 63 and 64: The resulting Large Stock Units are
Page 65 and 66: INTRODUCTION GAME MANAGEMENT ON MAR
Page 67 and 68: STOCKING RATES Current stocking The
Page 69 and 70: Table 10: The current stocking dens
Page 71 and 72: Recommendations on stocking rates C
Page 73 and 74: High selectivity grazers Blue wilde
Page 75 and 76: Waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus Ogil
Page 77 and 78: Space requirements: Kudu have range
Page 79 and 80: Recommendation: The range requireme
Page 81 and 82: Food preference: Steenbok utilise A
Page 83 and 84: Table 12: The potential stocking de
Page 85 and 86: Table 14: The potential stocking de
Page 87 and 88: Table 15: The recommended stocking
Page 89 and 90: The proteins may be less available
Page 91 and 92: When urea is incorporated into a ph
Page 93 and 94: Recommended intake for game is 150
Page 95 and 96: Ticks The main parasite of concern
Page 97 and 98: Figure 12: Sketch of Cyphostemma /C
Page 99: NOXIOUS AND INVASIVE WEEDS An invas
Page 103 and 104: Ricinus communis, Solanum sisymbrii
Page 105 and 106: Although soil treatment with chemic
Page 107 and 108: Planning errors must be expected, a
Page 109 and 110: To further reduce grazing pressure
Page 111 and 112: Lightning induced fires can also ca
Page 113 and 114: TIME OF BURNING Least damage is cau
Page 115 and 116: A low intensity fire will be achiev
Page 117 and 118: Recommendations for Marloth Park Ma
Page 119 and 120: Surface erosion will reduce water i
Page 121 and 122: Several different types of waterhol
Page 123 and 124: Stones Ground level Reinforced conc
Page 125 and 126: For safety reasons these requiremen
Page 127 and 128: Adaptive management Applying adapti
Page 129 and 130: Figure 15: Location of the monitori
Page 131 and 132: Appendix 1 (Continue) A list of tre
Page 133 and 134: Appendix 2 (Continue) A list of gra
Page 135 and 136: Appendix 3 (Continue) A list of for
Page 137 and 138: Appendix 3 (Continue) A list of for
Page 139 and 140: Appendix 4: Alien invaders found on
Page 141 and 142: Appendix 5: Frequency occurrence of
Page 151 and 152:
Appendix 5: Frequency occurrence of
Page 153 and 154:
Appendix 5: Frequency occurrence of
Page 155 and 156:
Appendix 6: Photographs of each veg
Page 157 and 158:
Appendix 6: Photographs of each veg
show all

Marloth Park Management Plan. - Nkomazi Local Municipality

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?