Marloth Park Management Plan. - Nkomazi Local Municipality

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STUDY AREA Marloth Park is located in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, about 20 km northwest of Komatipoort, between latitudes 25°15´ and 25° 30´ south and longitudes 31° 45´ and 31° 60´ east (grid reference 2532 AC). The property is situated in a horseshoe bend formed by the Crocodile River that forms a natural boundary with the Kruger National Park. Centre to this development is the Lionspruit Game Reserve, a natural area wedged in the development zone. The reserve fence acts as inner periphery for the southern, western and eastern boundaries. Olifants Drive, with a tarred surface, traverse the property giving access from Hectorspruit and Komatipoort, respectively. Access through Marloth Park is not restricted or controlled. SIZE The property consists of subsections of the farm Tenbosch 162 JU and extends over 3049 ha of tropical bush and savanna type bushveld. The Lionspruit Game Reserve is approximately 1422 ha in size, with the Marloth Park peripheral development zone (Figure 1) being approximately 1627 ha. Of the development zone, 528 ha are retained as parkland habitat for wild animals. INFRASTRUCTURE Marloth Park is a township development with basic infrastructure such as shops, restaurants, petrol filling station and other recreational facilities. The township development consists of approximately 4500 plots (Figure 2), each with access to water and electricity. Of the 1627 ha, 528 ha is parkland excluded from development and retained as habitat for wildlife. The housing development currently only has a footprint of 28 ha; however, many property owners landscape gardens, some to such extend that little of the natural habitat remain. It is estimated that at least 300 ha has been modified to such extend that the habitat is considered unsuitable for wildlife. Although these areas can act as reserves during periods of feeding stress, many owners actively discourage wildlife from entering their property boundaries. Approximately 180 ha of Marloth Park are classified as road reserves along a 96 km road network. However, much of these road reserves are used by wildlife for feeding, nesting and resting habitat. Only an estimated 40 ha consist of road surface areas with no suitable wildlife habitat. Within this development zone a number of water points for animals have been constructed, far in excess of the wildlife requirements. Although this action reduces the formation of piospheres, vegetation utilisation is more uniform and no low utilisation areas exist as reserve during periods of drought. © Ecological Associates/ Marloth Park 7
Figure 1: Location of the Marloth Park study area © Ecological Associates/ Marloth Park 8
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: INTRODUCTION Although only a few ve
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
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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
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Figure 12: Sketch of Cyphostemma /C
Page 99 and 100:
NOXIOUS AND INVASIVE WEEDS An invas
Page 101 and 102:
Management plans need to be reviewe
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
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Page 145 and 146:
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Page 155 and 156:
Appendix 6: Photographs of each veg
Page 157 and 158:
Appendix 6: Photographs of each veg
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Marloth Park Management Plan. - Nkomazi Local Municipality

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