Our Municipal plantations
Extensive tree plantations form a back-drop to the city of Pietermaritzburg. these plantations are used as recreation areas by many of the residents, and many of them are completely unaware of the primary role of these plantations. The trees, which grow mainly on the south and east-facing slopes in the high rainfall areas of the municipality, cover 2 130 ha. Gum trees are the most extensive species grown with wattle and pine trees covering lesser areas.
It will be of interest to readers to know that the city's plantations also host gum clonal trials in the World's View area. These trials include the production of four different hybrid clones, a pure cloning of one species, and the production of seed of three pure species.
Just what happens to the timber produced from our plantations? Approximately 25 000 tons of timber are grown and sold annually and there are many outlets for the product. These include gums and wattle chips for export, timber for telephone and transmission poles, pine saw timber and pine pulp. In addition tannin is derived from wattle bark and particle board is manufactured from the wood.
Who manages our plantations? NCT Farming (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary company of NCT Forestry Co-operative Ltd manages all the plantations on behalf of the Msunduzi Municipal Forestry Board. Jeremy Dixon is the Estate Manager and his assistant is Rajesh Ramsamy, while Jacob Kotze is the General Manager for NCT Tree Farming and Kerry Moffet is the Financial Manager. The plantation business has to fund its own operations which include conservation work and infrastructural development. Substantial profits have been made over the last ten years and this has benefited the municipality as the land owner.
The management of timber plantations in a municipal area is not a simple matter. Operations always have to take the residents into consideration regarding noise levels, burning and smoke impacts, road usage and crop spraying. One of the greatest problems faced by management is the dumping of household rubbish, garden refuse and building rubble in the plantations. On one of the many dumping site nine animal carcases were found! In addition many of the plantations on the outskirts of the municipality are damage by the theft of trees for building poles and fire wood.
Not only are the plantations of great financial benefit to the public of Pietermaritzburg, but they can also play an important recreational role. Hiking, bird watching, horse riding and mountain biking are encouraged and in fact the rugged slopes on which the plantations are situated provide one of the best venues in the country for mountain bike competitions. So much so that the South African mountain biking championships were held in the city's plantations this year. (International event?). Unfortunately joy riding by 4 x 4s, motor bikes and quad bikes causes serious damage to the roads and even within the plantations, and this form of entertainment has to be banned.
Another of the major challenges facing NCT management is the control of alien weeds. The Pietermaritzburg area unfortunately has an environment that encourages a host of different alien weeds. These include Mauritius thorn, bugweed, American bramble, lantana, long-leaved wattle, cat's claw creeper, ink berry and many more, all of which thrive under the local climatic conditions. Weed control accounts for a substantial proportion of the annual budget.
What most of the public is unaware of is the conservation programme run by Jeremy and his firm. Recently he took the Ferncliffe Catchment Conservancy committee on a tour of the plantations and they were most impressed to see an extensive valley and other areas set aside for conservation purposes. At the present time over 600 ha has been cleared of timber and weeds and indigenous trees have already been planted, and the programme is to be continued. This not only contributes to the conservation of water, but together with the plantations acts as a carbon sink and helps to ameliorate the air pollution problem that the city faces.