Ecosystem Guidelines for Environmental Assessment

MIDLAND & MOUNTAIN
will move in from neighbouring areas; recovery is possible within three fire cycles (20-120 years). For
large areas, rates of recovery are 50 m from the edge per fire cycle (5-40 years) for serotinous species
and 10 m per fire cycle for myrmecochorous species. If regeneration is insufficient to carry a fire,
recovery will take much longer. Southern Cape areas with more regular rainfall will restore much faster
than drier ones.
If serotinous species are lost from the system (as happens under aliens or too-frequent burning),
recovery takes about three fire cycles if remnant patches survive. Otherwise seeds should be broadcastsown
after the first post-fire rains.
Recovery of myrmecochorous species is slower and more labour-intensive (and costlier) than for
serotinous species.
What are acceptable trade-offs, compensation or off-sets
for biodiversity loss
Habitat in threatened (Critically Endangered and Endangered) ecosystems, corridors and vegetation
boundaries must be avoided, as must sensitive habitats such as wetlands and riparian fringes.
For all types of development, footprints should be minimised. The focus should be on selecting
alternatives that maximise the retention of indigenous habitat, species and ecological processes. This
means, for example, seeking less destructive methods of cultivating buchu, using local indigenous
plants species in landscaping and retaining wetland features as natural habitats and corridors.
Many of the rare species are localised, and these populations can often be avoided by good
environmental assessments and planning.
There are no acceptable trade-offs for losing the habitat of Critically Endangered and Endangered
species, or the species themselves.
Large developments are not recommended.
Search-and-rescue is important for all development, especially when development may result in the
irreversible loss of rare or threatened plant populations. A specialist botanical report must provide
recommendations on rescue techniques and CapeNature should endorse the sites to which these plants
are translocated. Rehabilitation of rare or threatened plants should not be considered as adequate
mitigation for loss of pristine habitat. In the case of sites that will be disturbed by development but
later rehabilitated, search-and-rescue should, as a
minimum, concentrate on saving bulbs and succulents. Frequent, high-intensity summer fires and overharvesting
have reduced the Clanwilliam cedar
Bulbs should be marked in spring when they flower or
Widdringtonia cedarbergensis to remote sites in the
are in leaf, but they should only be transplanted once higher-lying parts of the Cederberg.
their leaves have dried off. In all cases topsoil (upper
150 mm) should be removed before an area is disturbed
and replaced after the operational phase. In the case
of recently burned sites the seedlings of most shrubs
can be rescued by means of retaining soil sods (± 30
cm x 30 cm x 15 cm deep) in trays. Transplantation of
rescued plants must take place in autumn (March-April).
In threatened ecosystems, or where sensitive habitats
or ecological corridors or vegetation boundaries may be
transformed, biodiversity off-sets must be considered
after all standard mitigation has been carried out. The
selected areas should support vegetation of the same
or better quality than that found on the developed site.
PIETER MALAN
COLIN PATERSON-JONES
50 : MIDLAND & MOUNTAIN FYNBOS ECOSYSTEMS