Katonga Wildlife Reserve - Frontier-publications.co.uk

Katonga Wildlife Reserve 11Figure 2.3 1989-1992 land cover of the Katonga Wildlife Reserve (Forest Department,1996)In 1994 the Frontier-Uganda Game Reserves Project (as the current project was then known)conducted a brief vegetation survey of the reserve (Allan, 1995). A sketch map depictingswamp, riverine woodland, and a complicated mosaic of Acacia-dominated, Combretumdominated,and mixed Acacia and Combretum woodlands and wooded grasslands wasproduced. It was noted that the Acacia-dominated communities had encroached upon theCombretum-dominated communities, that Cymbopogon afronardus had increased in cover atthe expense of Themeda triandra, and that cover by woody species generally had increasedsince the 1960s.No previous studies have focused specifically on disturbance within the reserve. In 1982Eltringham et al. (1992) mapped the distribution of huts, cattle, and small stock (sheep andgoats) within the reserve as part of their aerial survey programme. These maps were updatedin 1995 by Lamprey and Michelmore (1996), who also mapped the distribution of kraals andareas under cultivation within the reserve. Selected maps are reproduced in Figures 2.4, 2.5,and 2.6. Areas under cultivation between 1989 and 1992 are depicted in the ForestDepartment’s National Biomass Study land cover map (Fig. 2.3).Frontier-Uganda Wildlife Protected Areas Project September 1997Baseline Surveys Programme Report No. 9