FoTP interns in action

Restoring Western Leopard Toad habitat at Tokai Park

Reading Time: 6 minutes

By FoTP interns: Oliver Angus, Thotloetso Litheko and Perfect Dhlamini

Context

An infestation of alien trees carpets the slopes of Table Mountain around the suburb of Tokai in Cape Town, South Africa. These trees have invaded the park following a wildfire that swept across the mountainside in 2015.

Alien plants are especially damaging to fynbos, threatening biodiversity. They increase the intensity and frequency of fires, alter the soil chemistry, and reduce the amount of water available for indigenous plant species.

Seeing the necessity for change, a local community conservation group, the Friends of Tokai Park (FoTP), which has been active for a decade, took the initiative to attempt to curb the spread of these alien trees through volunteerism.

FoTP applied for a large grant from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to leverage more investment to clear alien trees, following a hiatus in clearing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They were successful and initiated a project to restore the native fynbos through alien-tree clearing and active restoration (revegetation).

Twelve interns join the FOTP IUCN SOS Project

We are recent graduates from around South Africa and joined the project as interns to gain on-the-ground experience by participating in the restoration project. While working at the site, we have encountered and have had to tackle new alien species. One of these is Lantana (Lantana camara), a pernicious weed with a challenging root system.

We have had to implement more effective and efficient clearing methods than usual to clear the alien plants we were faced with. Some of these alien plants have complex growth forms (e.g. they are resprouters) or have grown in areas that have made them harder to remove (e.g. on steep slopes).

Being on site at Tokai has been fulfilling as we have been able to clearly see the progress that we have made as well as the additional work that needs to be done. It has been tremendously rewarding to know that our work has purpose.

It is also deeply satisfying to know that we have helped create an environment that will assist in the successful adaptation and establishment of the indigenous plants we have planted and for those that are already present within the soil seed banks.

Why is the project important?

This project is of immense import, largely because of the threatened flora and fauna that inhabit Tokai. Restoring these habitats can aid in the conservation of these threatened species. Two critically endangered (CR) vegetation types are present at Tokai, namely Peninsula Granite Fynbos on the mountain slopes and Cape Flats Sand Fynbos on the lowlands.

These vegetation types are used by the Western Leopard Toad, which has a small distribution due to habitat loss and has been listed by the IUCN as Endangered. In Tokai, much of the toad’s natural habitat has been developed and hundreds of toads are run over by motor vehicles every year during their breeding season.

This immense pressure on the toads provided great impetus for this project, which involves the restoration of natural habitat that the toads use to forage. With their high insect load, wetlands play a vital role in the ecosystem, acting as a food source for toads and other animals. egraded wetlands have lost much functionality and their restoration is essential for the proper functioning of these local ecosystems, as well as the toads’ survival.

What did the work involve for the interns?

We took part in a formal experiment to determine the best techniques for controlling the Australian Blackwood, a widespread invader at Tokai. This has offered us valuable insights into conducting ecological experiments in a field setting.

After the removal of the non-native trees, ecological restoration was undertaken by planting fynbos plants that form part of the natural ecosystem, thereby restoring the ecological balance. We planted the Kraaifontein spiderhead (Serruria furcellata), the wetland form of gold carpet (Helichrysum cymosum) and the large stipule fountainbush (Psoralea fascicularis).

Intern reflections

The project did not come without its challenges. This area is known as the ‘Cape of Storms’ with intense cold fronts during winter, bringing days of heavy rain and strong winds. On some days these conditions hindered our ability to work effectively on the mountainside.

We also experienced the heat of summer-weather conditions, sometimes clearing alien plants in full sun with temperatures well above 30 °C (86°F). Dealing with these harsh conditions comes with the job and pushing through them builds character.

Standing on the site and seeing the felled aliens brings hope to our hearts. We hope that in decades to come much of Tokai’s natural beauty, represented by these surviving remnants of threatened vegetation types, will be restored and will resemble the environment as it existed before colonialists arrived.

The impacts of the project

Using manual control methods, we have tried to speed up the process of killing the aliens before they spread to other areas. This will help to save other indigenous plants that would have been displaced by the aliens were they left to grow for the next few months. Many of these wetland species are affected by the aliens’ depletion of ground water.

As a key habitat area for the Western Leopard Toad, Tokai Park is already invaded by these alien plants. It is our mission to restore the park’s fynbos as habitat for these toads and other wetland species and, for this reason, we would like to thank the IUCN for the grant funding provided for this important project.

Interns recommendations and outlook

The government needs to take action by sponsoring organisations that clear alien species. This needs to be done before it is too late and we lose the endemic species found at Tokai Park and other similarly important sites.

Work at the site will not end when this project finishes and will continue well into the future. Alien plants often grow back after being cleared and this is something FoTP’s volunteer groups will continue to address.

The project has been able to attain its restoration and conservation goals with actions implemented on removing alien plants to create the right planting conditions for indigenous plants. This has allowed us to establish the conditions needed to initiate a planting process that will result in the successful growth and adaptation of locally indigenous plants within the ecosystem.

This shows that projects such as the IUCN SOS project more can be done to conserve and restoring our biodiversity and the environment for future generations. Together with FoTP, this project has created a working environment in which we interns have been able to learn and participate in the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Funding was granted for this project by IUCN Save Our Species and the European Union, which hope to address delays in conservation-related work caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.