It was started in 1988 by the Chairman – Dave Whitelaw.
The current members are; Felicity Ellmore – Secretary, Clifford Dorse, Gerhard Bothma, Suretha Dorse, Jane Doherty, Dieter Oschadleus and Gavin Lawson.
Conservation is an item low on many peoples agendas. It is fast growing in importance, as the human pressure continues to develop the remaining natural areas for housing, farming and industry in the Fynbos areas.
The Cape Fynbos areas have been declared a World Heritage Site. The fybnbos biome is unique on the planet, in that, it has the highest density of plant species per square metre in some areas, and takes up less than 1% of the worlds land mass.
Many of these habitats have plants with host insects, which have symbiotic relationships, other plants are pollinated by “our” birds. New species of plants and insects are still being found. There is not enough money spent conserving the remaining Fynbos habitats or enough people interested or allocated to this subject. Much remains to be studied, conserved and managed, so that future generations can enjoy the remaining natural areas we all tend to take for granted.
In the Cape Town area there is severe pressure to develop land for housing, industry and farming with the migration of rural populations to the City. This is a world trend and not unique to Cape Town.
Please help us try and achieve these goals.
Read the draft meeting minutes below to follow the current issues we deal with.
We meet every 6 weeks to report back at our meetings on the projects we deal with.
We participate and one of us is directly involved in the SABAP2 project.
We are directly and indirectly involved with education at Edith Stephens, False Bay, Zandvlei Nature Reserves and others.
We organise “hacking” (clearing of exotic invasive plants and trees). With the correct management, previously infested lands may, return to a more natural and biodiverse condition, with thereafter very little other human intervention and management.
visit areas to monitor and gather information (detective work),
One of us co-ordinates all the rare and other bird sightings for the club, province and national committees.
participate in numerous EIA’s (Environmental Impact Assessments),
By networking we get involved with the role players, build up relationships, correspond and network with like minded people and groups.
We attend numerous meetings. We are members of the False Bay Nature Reserve and Zandvlei Nature Reserve Protected Areas Advisory Committees. We are represented on the Western Cape Birding Forum and more.
entails follow ups with media discussions, articles for the press, radio and other media.
We work with various Local and Provincial Government, Planning, Engineering and Management authorities and officials.
We read many varied documents and correspondence, and try to make sense of the myriad of legislation and procedures,
We lobby Local, Provincial and National Government by letter writing, emails, with personal visits and by phone calls.