CITY OF CAPE TOWN 30 JUNE 2023 MEDIA RELEASE
City and Cape Bird Club partner on dune planting for Westridge Park Development.
The Cape Bird Club Committee is contributing R20 000 towards the cost of plants for the restoration of the sand-dune near the planned City of Cape Town Environmental Centre and outdoor classroom at Westridge Park, Mitchells Plain. This is part of the Club’s special bird and bird habitat conservation initiative to celebrate its 75th anniversary this year. The first phase of the planting took place yesterday, 29 June 2023, at Westridge Park.
The Cape Bird Club (CBC) is sponsoring the purchasing of locally indigenous Strandveld plants for the restoration of the dunes in Westridge Park. The planting will be done in three phases with the rest happening after the Environmental Centre is completed.
There is a long history of collaboration between the CBC and the City of Cape Town’s Biodiversity Management Branch. The bird club has been involved at the Zandvlei and False Bay Nature Reserves for many decades and is represented at many of the City’s Nature Reserves Protected Area Advisory Committees.
This year the CBC celebrates its 75th anniversary and is keen to sponsor a few legacy projects. The Westridge Park Development was very attractive to the CBC as it involves the development of a much needed Environmental Education facility and the restoration of some Cape Flats Dune Strandveld habitat.
‘Firstly, a big thank you to the Cape Bird Club. The Bird Club has a long relationship with City staff on improving the natural environment. This initiative will not only help to create an oasis for birdlife in a high-density area, but also provide educational and leisure opportunities through its link with the proposed environmental centre and outdoor classroom which will include a Mole Snake wooden boardwalk in the future. We want to promote our wonderful natural heritage which historically occurred in the area,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.
Caption: City staff members from the Sport and Recreation and Environmental management departments with members of the Cape Bird Club.