In the spirit of Arbor Week, the Stellenbosch Municipality planted trees in a number of Stellenbosch communities this week. From Die Laan to Jan Marais Park, and Paradyskloof to Cloetesville. By Friday, Stellenbosch was a lot greener.
The 2018 Arbor week theme is Forests and Sustainable Cities, and in keeping with this theme, the Stellenbosch municipality planted trees in suburban as well as natural environments.
Arbor Week is celebrated in South Africa every year from 1-7 September. The department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries began celebrating Arbor day in 1983, and this year the department has extended “Arbor week” to ”Arbor month.”
Arbour week 2018: Planting trees to benefit communities in the theme of Forests and Sustainable Cities. Infographic: Lauren Dold
“The purpose of these projects is to green local community areas,” said Gigi Cloete, Nature Conservation Project Manager for Community and Protection services.
In Cloetesville, the municipality planted trees in areas that were previously borehole drilling sites but were found to be inefficient. All the trees planted at these sights were indigenous.
Deputy Executive, Mayor Nyaniso Jindela, joined Arbor Week festivities in Cloetesville this week where new trees were planted with members of the community. PHOTO: Stellenbosch Municipality.
In Jan Marais Park, students from AF Louw primary and Bruckner De Villiers primary helped with the tree planting project.
Professor Jan Giliomee of the Stellenbosch University (SU) spoke to the learners about ecology, the value of trees and the importance of preserving our environment for future generations. PHOTO: Stellenbosch Municipality
Urban Forestry supplied the trees for the various projects.
“The trees of the year were selected 20 years ago so we follow that. Now in 2018 the tree is the Breede River Yellowwood so we have encouraged planting Yellowwoods, fruit trees especially in schools and communities and we have also been planting indigenous trees,” said Maindren Chettiar, superintendent of Urban Forestry.
The Yellowwood is South Africa’s National tree, making 2018’s Arbor week, or month as it will soon be known, a special one.
In 2014 and in 2017 the Stellenbosch Municipality were winners of the Arbor City Awards in the Local Municipality Category. This year the municipality did not enter, but according to Chettiar there are ongoing projects to be entered for next year’s awards.
“We don’t just plant this week, we plant throughout the month, we will have several other planting activities at schools throughout September,” said Chettiar.
Citizen participation contributed to the municipality’s Arbor week efforts.
“Our stakeholder involvement has been tremendously positive. On Wednesday we had an event on Die Laan at the Eerste River, planting trees and removing alien species. It was well attended by community members and they donated a large number of trees.
“Community involvement is ongoing, we encourage them to assist us, especially with the drought. We encounter difficulty in obtaining water, so we have asked the homeowners in Cloetesville to water the trees with greywater,” said Chettiar.
A number of indigenous trees were planted along the Eerste Rivier, parallel to Die Laan in central Stellenbosch. The Stellenbosch municipality cooperated with WILDLANDS NPO and members of the community. PHOTOS: Lauren Dold
Also involved in the removing alien species and planting trees along the Eerste Rivier was WILDLANDS, a leading environmental NPO who works closely with the Stellenbosch municipality.
“We are passionate about protection of our water sources and natural landscapes, especially in this iconic Eerste river. We hope to continue our excellent relationship with the Stellenbosch Municipality, partners and the public to restore more and more of the ecological river systems by removing alien invasive plant and replacing it with indigenous riverine vegetation,” said Lydia Van Rooyen, WILDLANDS’ Greening Your Future Manager.
If you want to contribute to Arbor week, but you don’t have a garden or land to plant trees on, there are ways to participate.
For students who live in residence or flats, there is still a way you can help by doing what students do best: surfing the internet.
Using the “ecosia” search engine ensures that the profit made from browsing the web is used to plant trees.