Appendix O2 - Biophysical Report.pdf - Zitholele.co.za

February 2011 70 12619This vegetation unit is classified as vulnerable with a conservation target of 25%. About 15% isstatutorily conserved in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park as well as Zileza, Enseleni andAmathikulu Nature Reserves. More than 30% has been transformed for plantations and cultivationand by urban spawl. Aliens include scattered populations of Chromolaena odorata and Lantanacamara. This vegetation type has a relatively high number of plant taxa at the southernmost andnorthernmost limits of their distribution range.ForestsIndigenous forests in South Africa is defined as “a generally multilayered vegetation unit dominatedby trees (largely evergreen or semi-deciduous), whose combined strata have overlapping crowns(i.e. the crown cover is 75% or more), and where graminoids in the herbaceous stratum (if present)are generally rare”. The following types of forests are present in the study area and are outlinedbelow:• Northern Afrotemperate Forests; and• Southern Misbelt Forests.Northern Afrotemperate ForestsThe Northern Afrotemperate Forests occur in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, NorthWest, Gauteng and Limpopo provinces (as well as Lesotho), they are restricted to mountain kloofsand low ridges (Strydpoortberg, Waterberg, Pilanesburg, Witwatersrand, Magaliesburg,Suikerbosrand, Sekhukhuneland) interrupting the relatively flat northern Highveld. This group asocomprises forests found in kloofs along the northern and eastern flanks of the Drakensburg andthose found on the slopes and scarps of Low Escarpment between Van Reenen’s Pass andPongola Bush near Piet Retief. The westernmost localities of these forests are found in theKoranaberg (close to Thaba ‘Nchu).This vegetation unit is characteristic of relatively species-poor forests of afromontane origin andsome of them still show clear afromontane character. They can be found in small patches in kloofsand on sub-ridge scarps at high altitudes. The canopy is usually dominated by Podocarpuslatifolius, Olinia emarginata, Halleria lucida, Scolopia mundii, and rarely also by Widdringtonianodiflora, in drier facies also by Pittosporum viridiflorum, Celtis Africana, Mimusops zeyheri, Nuxiacongest and Combretum erythrophyllum. Xymalos monospora sometimes dominate patches ofspecies-poor mistbelt forests of northern KwaZulu-Natal.This vegetation unit is considered least threatened with a conservation target of 31%.Approximately 30% is statutorily conserved in uKhahlamba Drakensburg Park, Phongols Bush,Vryheid Mountain, Poccolan/Robinson;s Bush, Ngome and Ncandu Nature Reserves,Magaliesburg Nature Area, Merville Ridge, Paardeplaats, Rustenburg, Suikerbosrand NatureReserves, Marekele National Park and Pilanesburg Game Reserve . Some private nature reserves(e.g. Mooibron, Mhlongamvula, Tafelkop, Oudehoutdraai, Oshoek, and Ossewakop) protect someZITHOLELE CONSULTING