A total of 14 000ha of fynbos and wildlife habitat burned during the fire that swept through the Boland Mountain Complex between 21 February and 3 March.
The burnt mountain sides within the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. The veldfire, fuelled by dense vegetation and driven by strong winds, spread through the Jonkershoek Valley on 26 and 27 February, according to a media release by the Cape Winelands District Municipality. PHOTO: Tamsin Metelerkamp
This is according to Ashley Bauer, chairperson of the Stellenbosch Fire Management Unit, who coordinated with the Cape Winelands, Overberg and City of Cape Town municipalities to prevent the fire from crossing the wildland-urban interface.
“These fires that we’re seeing every five to seven years in the area… it’s still too frequent to be burning,” said Bauer.
Ashley Bauer, Chairperson of the Stellenbosch Fire Management Unit, comments on how the Stellenbosch fire impacted biodiversity in the area
Rare Protea species protected
During the firefighting attempts, the Cape Nature team prevented the destruction of an area containing the Protea stokoei, a rare species indigenous to the Boland area. This involved “putting teams up in very high, mountainous terrain”, according to Monique Ruthenberg, conservation manager of the Boland Mountain Complex.
“This [Protea stokoei] population is currently the oldest and biggest population of the known populations,” said Ruthenberg in email correspondence. “So it was an extremely important population to protect.”
The fynbos that burned ranged in age from 1 month to 25 years old, according to Ruthenberg. Destruction of younger fynbos contributed to a decline in biodiversity in the area, she added.
A burnt protea in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. PHOTO: Tamsin Metelerkamp
Monique Ruthenberg, conservation manager for the Boland Mountain Complex, explains how short fire intervals impact biodiversity
“The Protea species needs to flower three to four times in a cycle before it’s allowed to burn,” said Ruthenberg. “Otherwise, if it’s too short, then there’s less seeds that go into the ground.”
Some animal species were also affected by the fire. These “include but are not limited to snakes, tortoises, baboons and possibly some buck species”, according to an email from Dale Nortje, manager of the Winelands Fire Prevention Association.
A fire-damaged sign in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. PHOTO: Tamsin Metelerkamp