Suzanne J Milton-Dean

“RENU-KAROO”: Developing indigenous seed orchards and local skills to restore mining and grazing damage in arid Karoo rangeland

The Renu-Karoo project aims to make ecological restoration with locally indigenous plants a sought-after service in the Central Karoo, thereby sustaining ecological services and creating employment. Our broader vision is to facilitate a network of small businesses run by rural people that collect and distribute indigenous seed appropriate for restoration of local vegetation types. The project will contribute to the conservation of natural ecosystems and to socio-economic development in a region where only 40% of adults are employed.

With the assistance of the Rufford Small Grant, Renu-Karoo will initiate four projects in the village of Prince Albert: collection of indigenous seed from roadsides, the establishment of an indigenous seed orchard, production of indigenous plants in a nursery, and the establishment of restoration field trials. All aspects will involve the training and employment of local people.

A wide range of wild seeds will be hand collected from along ungrazed roadsides and private nature reserves with landowner and conservation agency permission. Staff will be trained to collect only a proportion of the seeds from any one plant so as to minimize negative effects on wild plant populations. So as to minimize risk of genetic pollution, we will market the seeds within the geographical range of the species or subspecies, as well as collaborating to investigate the genetic variability of the most popular forage plant species.

The pilot seed orchard will be established on two hectares of land 3 km from the sub-economic housing area in the poorer part of the village of Prince Albert. The seed orchard is not a substitute for wild seed collection but will buffer fluctuations in seed availability. Assuming that we can establish 10,000 plants/ha and use occasional flood irrigation to produce two seed crops annually, the orchard should yield about 1000 kg/ha of seeds. The successful establishment of the seed orchard will depend upon irrigation, which in turn will entail the pumping of water from an underground source (borehole), water storage, piping of water over a distance of 300 m, construction of a shed to protect the pump, seeds and equipment from vandalism, labour-intensive flood irrigation and weeding.

Initially only three indigenous forage plant species will be sown in the orchard, but nursery trials conducted at the same time should expand the range. Developing a small nursery at the seed orchard site will help us to gain experience in the germination, propagation and translocation of a range of indigenous plant species.

Demonstration restoration trials will be set up on communal grazing land and on a disused gravel mine to train staff, to learn about restoration techniques, and to serve as a discussion and learning forum for local farmers and for schools and students. Through support from the Plant Conservation Unit of the University of Cape Town we will involve students and local field assistants in this restoration research.

For more information contact sukaroo@telkomsa.net or go to http://www.renu-karoo.co.za

Project Update: July 2008

Tripteris sinuata plant 9 months old with flowers and seeds next to newly installed dripline May 2008

Store, toilet and pumphouse under construction at the seed orchard, May 2008

In the six months since our last report in December 2007 we have made further progress in developing a seed orchard, marketing indigenous seeds, developing an indigenous nursery, involving students and training local people to collect seed and cultivate indigenous plants. The highlights were

1) construction of a pumphouse, waterless toilet and store room on site;

2) installation of drip piping (44 rows 300 m long) to supply water from the borehole to the orchard;

3) sowing of all 44 rows of seed orchard with indigenous forage plant species;

4) employment of 2 women and one man on a full time basis to tend to seed orchard, collect seed from the wild and cultivate indigenous plants in the nursery.

5) sale of 70 kg of indigenous seed to ranchers to restore overgrazed or damaged natural rangeland.

6) collaboration with students to evaluate the outcome of some of this reseeding.

Our website has been upgraded to advertise our seeds, plants and services and to add logos and links to our sponsors and clients.

Pro bono activities have included:

1) donation of 500 indigenous Acacia karroo tree saplings grown in our nursery for a firewood resource for local people;

2) ongoing collaboration with the local municipality to maintain the new community woodlot on a former garbage disposal site; the woodlot is irrigated with recycled water from sewerage evaporation ponds.