Cleared invasive hakeas growing at low density, (about 70ha), in Klein Swartberg mountains near Ladismith, Western Cape, S Africa.
Seven hackers had an enjoyable time clearing an area of approximately 1 ha moderately infested with hakea and with a few small dense clumps. A conservative estimate is that at least 1 400 young trees and more than 900 seedlings were cleared. Great to have Adrian and Thabane from Cape Nature join us.
An area of about 108 ha was cleared of at least 2 900 mainly young hakea trees. A lot of our time was spent hunting for the widely scattered hakea individual trees and tree clusters across the steep valley-and-ridge terrain. The hack was organized by Mountain Club of South Africa South Cape Section and involved 21 volunteers. Thanks go to the Gourtiz Cluster Biosphere Reserve (GCBR) who kindly sponsored some new saws and blades to improve our effectiveness.
Over the course of three hacks (01 and 21 December 2019 and 15 February 2020) Barrydale volunteers cleared an infestation of silky hakea in Barrydale’s water supply catchment. The cleared infestation covered approximately ½ hectares of high infestation and a surrounding low infestation of approximately 15 hectares. Approximately 700 small trees and 5400 seedlings were cleared.
This is part of the Ten Thousand Trees Challenge, a platform for Invasive Alien Plant Hackers, within iNaturalist.