According to conservationists, the intensive bark stripping of indigenous trees in Table Mountain National Park increases the risk of wildfires and opens forests up to overwhelming invasive growth.
Also read: The battle against bark stripping continues, TMNP conducts awareness programme
Peeling bark from indigenous trees to make traditional medicines has been practised in a sustainable manner for generations.
“We’re observing syndicates operating in this area [of Newlands Forest]. Harvesters now come in and take as much bark as possible, ringbarking the trees and causing them to die,” Willem Boshoff, co-founder of the Newlands Forest Conservation Group, told News24.
His organisation focuses on preserving indigenous forests on Table Mountain’s eastern slopes, and since 2019 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has seen an exponential increase in bark stripping, with between 10 and 20 trees being stripped in a single night.
He says this practice has a visible impact on the forest, to the point where sections collapse, and he warns of other increased risks associated with intensive bark stripping.
An increased risk of runaway fires
When bark-stripped trees, most commonly the Cape beech and the protected assegai, collapse, they inevitably destroy surrounding trees.
This thins the forest canopy, allowing more sunlight to reach the ground, drying out vegetation, and increasing the risk of fast-moving fires, which already plague Table Mountain during the hot, windy summer months in Cape Town.
“The gap in the canopy also creates space for invasive species to gain a foothold, and invasive species, by nature of being invasive, out-compete indigenous species. All this is a toxic cocktail that will eventually result in the permanent destruction of the Afromontane Forest if not stopped,” explained Boshoff.
Efforts are being made to combat tree stripping, but with a large area to oversee (221 square kilometres) and a lack of human resources, SANParks is struggling to stop the illegal flow of bark from TMNP.
Three suspects were arrested in the Rhodes Memorial area in February 2021 for possessing stripped bark and chopping tools.
One of them admitted to bark stripping and received a six-month prison sentence, an R3,000 fine, and a three-year suspended sentence.
Two more people were apprehended with stripped bark in a national park in October of the same year. They both pleaded guilty.
Bark stripping is spreading to the suburbs
Mikhail Manuel, councillor for Ward 59 in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, told News24 that bark stripping is an issue up in the mountains, but it’s also happening along Claremont Main Road, in Newlands, in Kenilworth and in Durbanville.
Manuel is on a mission to raise funds to support community-led initiatives, emphasising the importance of civic organisations in combating barking theft.
In April, the councillor hopes to raise R21,000 by running the Two Oceans Half Marathon. This money will be donated to TreeKeepers Cape Town, a local environmental conservation organisation, and will be used to wrap trees that have been damaged by bark stripping and to protect others with paint.
SANParks awareness campaign
SANParks is taking reactive measures to save some of the affected trees.
Stripped trees are being painted with a special paste that protects the tree from infection and aids in recovery, and in August of last year, SANParks unveiled bark-stripping awareness signage at Newlands Forest in collaboration with the Newlands Forest Conservation Group.
The purpose of these signs is to educate the public about the bark stripping problems in the Newlands Forest and tell them where to report the problems.
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Picture: Hiking South Africa / Facebook