Full-circle restoration of subtropical thicket

It takes more than just planting some seeds in the veld to restore subtropical thicket that has been degraded by erosion, overgrazing and bush clearing. Marion Whitehead reports on a project designed by the Rhodes Restoration Research Group that has yielded valuable new insights into the process.

- Marion Whitehead

Luvuyo Ncula, a technician at the Rhodes Restoration Research Group (RRRG) in the Eastern Cape, is overcome with emotion when he sees his ‘plant babies’ growing in the blazing sun.

He nurtured the seeds, collected from parent trees in the nearby thicket, in tunnels at the Rhodes University Waainek Research Facility until the seedlings were big enough to be moved into the shade house in his nursery.

It was here that they began to flourish in his special growing medium, a rich mix of potting soil and river sand, as well as ground coir and vermiculite for good drainage.

When funds at the facility were short, he cared for the plants on his own, ensuring they had enough water to grow big and strong enough to take on the tough job of restoring areas of degraded subtropical thicket in the Tanglewood Conservation Area, about 47km outside of Makhanda.

Overgrazed land loses its ability to absorb rain and erodes easily. The soil microbes die and a hard crust forms on the soil where nothing wants to grow, or it becomes a dust bowl, equally hostile to plants and animals.

Ncula’s 2 200 young trees had a great future ahead of them when, in 2022, they were transported to a 1ha plot in the Tanglewood Conservation Are, thanks to a grant from adventurer Kingsley Holgate aimed at offsetting the carbon emissions from his 30 000km transcontinental expedition across the length of Africa and Europe.

Planted in groups of 10 in shallow depressions in the hard, bare soil to capture and retain as much rain as possible, they are a mix of shrubby trees such as needle bush (Azima tetracantha) and larger species such as the Cape ash (Ekebergia capensis) and wild plum (Harpephyllum caffrum).