Forestry Plantations
Back in the day, Comte de Vasselot de Regne chose to plant fast-growing, exotic species like Pine, Port Jackson, Blue Gum and Wattle where the noble indigenous giants had once stood in the Garden Route.
This was the start of the bland softwood forestry plantations that blight the slopes of South Africa, from the Cape to the Kruger Park.
Plantations serve an important economic purpose and they are a valuable, well-managed natural resource.
But plantations, pine or otherwise, are so relentlessly monotonous, with their rigid ranks of identical trees, their regimented aloofness and their mass-produced anonymity.
‘Working for Water’
The Australian trees; wattle, blue gum, Port Jackson; are particularly thirsty, and there is now a large-scale movement towards removing all exotic trees from the water-catchment areas of our rivers. This ‘Working for Water’ campaign is handled by the Forestry Department, and it employs the people from poor communities to help eradicate the foreign interlopers.
The project has had much success in alleviating poverty, and in restoring river systems to their previous vitality. It is a countrywide programme, and one well worth supporting.
Interestingly, some of the forestry plantations in the Southern Cape are now being actively decommissioned. One ranger noted that it has become cheaper to import pine than it is to grow it in the Cape.
Another ranger said that the demand for pine has decreased because, with the advent of cell phones and the decline of the railways, we no longer need new telephone poles or sleepers.
Plantations or no Plantations
Plantations or no plantations, the Garden Route is still very beautiful and it is one of the highlights the country’s coastline.
Verdant mountains crowd down to the sea, brightly coloured rocks burst out from the golden beaches and lambent sunsets bathe the region in a warm yellow glow.
While it is true that some parts of the Garden Route have become over-developed in recent years, the region still has abundant charms which will never grow tired.
By David Fleminger
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