In an effort to restore and preserve natural resources, Pinelands residents planted trees along the Elsieskraal River yesterday (Friday).
This was through their annual AdoptATree campaign that has been operating since 2019 by the Renew The Elsieskraal River group.
“Our broad vision was to see life returned to the river.
“We started with an interfaith blessing on the river and picking up litter events, which helped us to get to know the space better, both in the canal and on the riverbanks.
“We hope to allow indigenous vegetation to return to the canal itself so that ecosystems could start to develop,” said Jacqui Tooke, one of the founding members.
The group focuses on the biodiversity on the riverbanks through indigenous tree planting, removing invasive aliens and the clean ups.
They started in 2018 when the residents were awakened by the drought to the importance of water, and concern about the amount of pollution in the canal.
The initiative covers a 2.5km stretch of the river that runs through Pinelands towards the Liesbeek River along the N2.
They have since planted about 280 trees received through donations from different organisations.
Yesterday they had fun lifting and placing the reportedly 250-litre sized Waterberry trees, taking up to six people to carry it to the manholes.
“Trees are wonderful in so many ways, from capturing carbon which is crucial as our carbon emissions continue to escalate causing climate breakdown, cleaning and providing oxygen, their roots holding the soil and allowing water to penetrate to replenish the aquifers, to cooling our cities, and have been shown to have immense psychological benefits on humans.
“We hope to engage with the City about alternative ways to allow some ecosystem restoration to take place, whilst not undermining the flood prevention role of the canal.
“There is a room for improvement in how the City engages with citizen driven initiatives as we have found it rather bewildering.
“The task of ecosystem restoration is massive and so we call on the City to see citizen-groups as vital partners to reach this goal,” said Tooke.
In response, Cape Town City Council’s mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews, said: “Generally, community initiatives should be supported.
“However, these must be undertaken with the knowledge and consent of the landowner or relevant City department to mitigate unintended negative consequences such as potentially exacerbate flooding by tree planting in areas where they could cause a problem, retard flow, or the planting of invasive species as well as to ensure that there is support for the ongoing maintenance of whatever is done.”
Meanwhile, experts are in support of the initiative as the CapeNature senior manager for marine and coasts department, Pierre de Villiers, who said protecting rivers and all associated species was critical and "there was always a need for increased awareness in all conservation fields and marine conservation."
Adding to the founder of Fynbos Life, Dr Catlin von Witt: “It is clear that our future survival on Earth depends largely on the preservation and rehabilitation of natural ecosystems and the wildlife they support.
“The plants will support seasonal freshwater, (and) clean water is the lifeblood of healthy ecosystems, the conservation of freshwater habitat is a highly efficient means to support maximal ecological biodiversity.”