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Summary: Monitoring for Sustainable Indigenous Forest

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Summary: Monitoring for Sustainable Indigenous Forest MONITORING FOR SUSTAINABLE INDIGENOUS FOREST MANAGEMENT IN THE GARDEN ROUTE NATIONAL PARK Knysna 2014 ii CONTENTS Page 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 FOREST DYNAMICS MONITORING 2 2.1 Diepwalle Research Areas 2 2.2 Tsitsikamma strip plots 3 2.3 Permanent Sample Plots (PSPs) in nature reserves 3 2.4 National system of forest plots 3 3 FOREST DISTURBANCE AND RECOVERY 4 3.1 Gap dynamics research 5 3.2 Storms River big tree 5 3.3 Photo-monitoring of burnt forest 6 3.4 Koomansbos fire gap 7 3.5 Forest establishment 7 3.6 Forest succession on a burnt forest margin 7 4 UTILISATION OF FOREST PRODUCTS 8 4.1 Timber utilization 8 Permanent sample plots (PSPs) 9 Post-harvesting audit 11 4.2 Ferns 12 4.3 Bulbine 13 4.4 Bark 13 5 PLANT SPECIES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN 14 6 BLACKWOOD 15 6.1 Incidence of spread monitoring 15 6.2 Success of control action monitoring 16 6.3 Harkerville blackwood plot 16 iii 7 FAUNA 16 7.1 Antelope population monitoring 16 7.2 Rare mammal monitoring 16 7.3 Crowned eagle monitoring 17 7.4 The Knysna elephants 18 8 CULTURAL HERITAGE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 19 9 SOCIAL MONITORING 19 9.1 Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment 19 9.2 Employment Equity 19 9.3 People and Conservation Park Based Education and Youth Development Programmes 20 9.4 Expanded Public Works Programmes (EPWP’s) 20 10 WASTE DISPOSAL 20 10.1 Hazardous waste 20 10.2 Household waste 21 11 CHEMICAL USAGE 21 12 COSTS, PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY OF FOREST MANAGEMENT 21 13 CONCLUSION 22 APPENDIX 1: HARVEST TREE SELECTION CRITERIA APPLIED IN THE INDIGENOUS FORESTS OF THE GARDEN ROUTE NATIONAL PARK 23 APPENDIX 2: TREE LIST FOR THE INDIGENOUS FORESTS OF THE GARDEN ROUTE 24 1 1 INTRODUCTION The Garden Route National Park (GRNP) consists of a mosaic of diverse terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine and marine ecosystems, landscapes, and cultural heritage. It lies between George and Kareedouw on the narrow coastal strip to the south of the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains, in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces. The approximately 157 000 ha includes scattered patches of indigenous forest that cover about 40 500 ha (Figure 1). Management activities within the forests include the sustainable harvesting of forest products, the provision and maintenance of outdoor recreation opportunities and facilities, and invader plant control. Part of the GRNP (41 538 ha of State Forest land, including 35 765 ha of indigenous forests and 5 339 ha of associated fynbos, formerly known as the Farleigh, Diepwalle and Tsitsikamma Forest Estates) received international recognition for responsible management with the awarding of Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) certification (Licence code FSC-C019566) in December 2002, which has been retained since. A forest monitoring programme, which complements programmes in the fynbos, marine and aquatic environments of the park, was developed over more than four decades as an integral part of the management systems to provide information on: natural changes occurring in the ecosystems, effects of management activities on the ecosystems, and effectiveness of management activities. The monitoring results are used to change or refine the management systems to ensure that the valuable natural resources are managed sustainably, based on reliable scientific data. Several of the projects in the Garden Route were established for long term monitoring, i.e. to gather and provide information for several years, and in many cases, for several decades. This is important because of the slow rates of natural change in the forests, the long periods between management interventions for some activities (e.g. the 10-year felling cycle for timber) and the relatively light impacts of most of the management activities. Some low impact changes may only be detected after several monitoring events, i.e. after several decades. The data emanating from these projects can provide valuable information on the impacts of climate change on the forests over the next few decades. This purpose of this document is to report mainly on the results of the forest monitoring programme; however some of these results are not restricted to the forests, and cover other terrestrial habitats as well, or even the full extent of the park, reflecting the integrated nature of the management systems and monitoring programmes. Figure 1: The distribution of indigenous forests managed by SANParks in the Garden Route. 2 2 FOREST DYNAMICS MONITORING The forest is monitored to observe natural processes, such as long-term changes in the composition of the forest, growth rates, regeneration, mortality and condition of the forest. Several projects are currently underway in various parts of the forest. 2.1 Diepwalle Research Areas The Diepwalle Research Areas were established during the 1930s. During the early 1970s all trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH, diameter measured at a height of 1.3m) of ten centimetres and greater, as well as many smaller trees, were numbered and measured. Areas covering a total of 67.7ha have been re-measured periodically since 1972, most recently in 2007 and 2010. More than 50 000 trees are individually numbered in these areas (see Figure 2). This project provides a substantial database on the rates of change of Garden Route forests. The data on increments (growth rates), ingrowth and mortality rates for different tree species and size classes on a variety of different sites have also provided an important basis for the development of a timber yield regulation system for the region. Some of the results for the main canopy species are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Some results of forest dynamics monitoring in the Diepwalle Research Areas. Species Percentage Mean annual 10 year composition diameter mortality increment percentage (mm) Stinkwood / Stinkhout (Ocotea bullata) 2.2 1.496 8.1 Real Yellowwood / Opregte Geelhout (Podocarpus 26.2 1.255 3.2 latifolius) Ironwood / Ysterhout (Olea capensis subsp.macrocarpa) 42.6 2.053 8.2 Hard Pear / Hardepeer (Olinia ventosa) 3.1 4.745 3.6 White Pear / Witpeer (Apodytes dimidiata 5.8 0.990 5.2 subsp.dimidiata) Cherrywood / Kershout (Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus) 6.6 1.983 5.0 Assegai / Assegaai (Curtisia dentata) 3.6 1.398 7.1 Quar / Kwar (Psydrax obovata subsp.obovata) 4.6 1.516 9.3 Total / Mean 94.7 6.4 Note: Data for trees with DBH ≥ 30 cm. A tree senility monitoring project was initiated in October 1990 to monitor species-specific mortality patterns. It is an integral part of the development and implementation of the senility criteria harvesting (SCH) timber yield regulation system, which is applied to select trees for harvesting. A total of 2420 canopy trees of 18 species were inspected for possible visible indications of senility. A set of harvest tree selection criteria was developed for the 8 most common canopy tree species (Yellowwood, Stinkwood, Ironwood, White Pear, Candlewood, Assegai, Quar and Hard Pear) that were calibrated to the known species-specific mortality rates. The selection of trees falling within these selection criteria should produce a harvest equal to the natural mortality. All of the trees were re-evaluated after about 5, 10, 15 and 20 years and the criteria refined. The criteria currently applied to select indigenous trees for harvesting appear in Appendix 1. Preliminary analyses of the data provided information on mortality patterns that support the senility criteria approach to timber yield regulation. The results also revealed the need for further refinement of the harvest tree selection criteria to increase the accuracy of the system. Analysis of the most recent data from the Diepwalle and other research areas in the region will provide further insights into the natural dynamics of the forest ecosystem that will be used to improve the management systems. 3 Figure 2: Monitoring of forest dynamics in the Garden Route forests. 2.2 Tsitsikamma strip plots Strip plots (transects) were established in two areas in the Tsitsikamma (eastern section of the Garden Route forests) during the period 1988 - 1992 to provide data for these forests, as it was not known if the data from the Diepwalle and other research areas to the west were representative for the Tsitsikamma forests. The strip plots are permanently marked 10m wide transects through the forest, divided into plots 20m long. The 1135 plots cover a total area of 22.7ha. All trees with DBH 10cm were measured. Each tree is individually identifiable, so re-measurements provided data on increments, ingrowth and mortality rates. Table 2 provides a summary of the species and size class composition and increments recorded. The population of the Tsitsikamma forest remained relatively stable in terms of stem density, mean diameter and basal area. There appear to be some differences in growth rates and forest structure between the Tsitsikamma forests and forests further west; on-going analysis of the monitoring data will clarify matters. 2.3 Permanent Sample Plots (PSPs) in nature reserves No harvesting of forest products is permitted in certain parts of the Garden Route forests. These undisturbed areas can be compared with similar areas where harvesting is carried out to assess the impacts of harvesting. In 1985 and 1991 PSPs were established in Lelievlei and Petrus Brand Nature Reserves (108 plots and 30 plots respectively) in sites similar to those used for sustainable timber harvesting. This forms part of the larger PSP monitoring project in timber utilisation areas that is discussed in more detail below. 2.4 National system of forest plots Permanent plots at Groenkop (established in 1972), Diepwalle (1974), Koomansbos (1988) and Witelsbos (1988) are part of a national system of plots established for long-term monitoring of growth and mortality in indigenous forests. Similar plots were established at sites in the Cape Peninsula, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo Province.
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