The Cape Bird Club

MINUTES OF THE CAPE BIRD CLUB CONSERVATION COMMITTEE

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 11 April 2011 at Dave’s house.

Present: Dave Whitelaw, Felicity Ellmore, Frank Wygold, Gavin Lawson, Doug Harebottle.
Apologies: Stacy-Ann Michaels, Cliff Dorse, Suretha Dorse, Shaun Overmeyer.

1. Strandfontein - Vernon is not replying to Dave.

  • There is no money from the city this year, used to get R100 000.
  • Doug contacted Cecile Reed, she was away but will be back today. The aim is to attract more waders.
  • Gavin spoke to Victoria - she said there are 7 people sharing 2 PCs. Dave will find out what happened to the computer the club gave the Strandfontein manager a few years ago.

2. Paarden Eiland - Maizel’s cottage -  Dave Curren decided to demolish it. He thinks he can use the R160 000 from Bernadette le Roux but that is only available after June and it shouldn’t be used for demolishing the building.

  • Frank had a meeting last week about using the annex to the community centre. Trouble is they can’t move the guy that is in there.
  • The man in charge of amenities suggested a cluster of containers near Jos Baker’s house. Frank has written to him and shown him the correspondence with the Boy Scouts. There is a clause in their lease that states that the council can revoke their lease with 3 months notice. The Boy Scouts haven’t used it for anything except storage for 30 years.
  • Robin Carlisle promised to help Frank a year ago but has done nothing. If Frank goes to the Cape Times, Melanie Gosling will remember the promises Robin made.
  • Frank has written to the Dept of Public Works but hasn’t got any replies yet.
  • Frank has written to Pat Titmus asking for a stormwater drainage plan for the area. The water is so polluted that it is detrimental to aquatic life. Frank is trying to find the source of the pollutants - faecal coliform bacteria and ammonia.
  • Frank needs labourers by June but has to employ them through Dave Curren’s organisation.
  • The council is clearing Port Jackson in the area. Not working very fast and they are not treating the stumps.

3. Raapenberg - Dave hasn’t got James Coopers contact - Will get it from Dave Wheeler.

4. Flaminkvlei - Cerebos has now taken a 30 year lease on the area. Dave went to a meeting and met the manager of Cerebos. Dave is planning to have a site visit with him. Dave will try and make it a Sat morning so some of us can go with him.

5. Edith Stephens - Stacy took a group to West Coast Field Study Centre. She meant to stay until 12h00 but stayed till 15h00.

6. Wind farms - Dave went to the Birds and Wind energy Forum meeting on Thurs 31 March. They have drawn up regulations for a monitoring process for developers.

7. Solar Energy - there are 60 - 70 applications in at the moment.

8. Penguins - Suretha wants Dave to write a letter of support for controlling access to Burgers Walk.

9. Proclamation of City Nature Reserves - Cliff reminded us to send in comments. Need comments from BLSA (Vernon) and CBC (Dave will contact Helen to get someone to comment).

10. Other - Today Gavin received the Western Cape Ecological Communities Bill - draft form.

  • Gavin went to a course at UCT about using Google for Nature Conservation. He wants to put Bird Club headquarters on the maps - where should it be?

NEXT MEETING - Monday 16 May 2011 at Dave’s house.

                                                                                                                                            

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