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Annual General Meeting Coming Up |
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Notice has gone out that our AGM
will be held at Eerste Steen on
24th April at 19:30 for 20:00.
We hope to see all our members
there. Please bring friends
along who would like to know
what we are doing. |
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Elkanah Commits to Conservation |
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The Friends of the BCA
frequently get contacted by
groups or individuals who want
to their bit for conservation.
These contributions often are
very significant, but usually
lasts for only half a day. |
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So when Elkanah House, a school
in Parklands, offered to commit
to a program for a whole year,
you can only imagine the
absolute joy experienced by the
Friends of the BCA. Finally we
were getting the involvement we
were hoping for! On Saturday 2nd
February Mr Heinz Geiger and a
group of students paid their
first visit to the BCA and got
stuck into a huge patch of Port
Jacksons. Our new education
officer, Elana Kellerman (see
write-up in this newsletter)
went along to give guidance.
Read more about this and view
more pictures on our
News Items
page in this website. |
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One student, Candice, went off
with Louis Raubenheimer to do
some damage to a persistent
patch of wild prickly pear. In
the righthand picture one can
see Candice administering some
magic potion to the prickly
pear, with Louis looking on
rather apprehensively. |
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Beforehand it was decided not to
use herbicide on the Port
Jacksons, but pulling them out
was not exactly easy, since the
soil was quite dry in February.
Nevertheless a number of rather
stubborn plants were
successfully removed, to
everyone’s satisfaction. The
picture on the left shows Mr Heinz
Geiger and one of his students
battling with a Port Jackson. |
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The next outing with the
school will on be Saturday April
19th at 9:00am when we will be
working close to Eerste Steen.
We will park at Eerste Steen and
walk across the coastal road to
do some alien clearing, removing
mostly young plants. Members of
the Friends will be most
welcome, since the students can
do with some guidance from our
more experienced members. Anyone
else who would like to come and
help is also most welcome.
Starting time will be 9:00am and
we will work until 11:00,
although anyone wanting to leave
earlier can do so at any time.
Just bring a snack and something
to drink. |
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Update on the Honey Badger,
Mellivora capensis, that
was rehabilitated and released
in the BCA. |
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Lizanne Langeveld, Acting
Reserve Manager, BCA |
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A male honey badger that was
rescued from a farm in Atlantis
as a three month old cub in 2006
was released after a 16 month
period of rehabilitation. |
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On 27th June 2007 a hole to his
enclosure was opened and the
animal came out to explore his
surroundings. The BCA team were
ready with a radio receiver on
the top of Blaauwberg hill to
follow his movements, also with
the help of binoculars and a
telescope. Soon visual contact
was lost, so the badger could
only be tracked with the radio
receiver. |
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Tracking was done around the
clock, with teams of two to
three people working eight hour
shifts. |
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We wanted to know the animal’s
position at all times as well as
his direction of movement.
Observers always had to position
themselves downwind from the
animal; observations from
close-up were limited; areas the
animal appeared to frequent were
avoided and use of a spotlight
was disallowed. |
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The honey badger’s location was
recorded every half-hour and his
direction of movement determined
by locating his signal at
fifteen minute intervals. Spoor
was also followed to establish
movement patterns. |
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According to our data his “home
range” covered an estimated
200ha, ranging from dense
invasive vegetation stands to
dense renosterbos and
rehabilitating areas. The
enclosure (old burrow) in which
he was rehabilitated seemed to
be a frequent pitstop on his
foraging outings The animal
seemed to frequent dense
vegetation, using concealed
drainage lines and culverts to
get around. |
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On the 20th of August 2007 the
unthinkable happened: we lost
all signal completely! All staff
in the northern district
participated in searching for
the “lost” badger. Local farmers
in the area were kind enough to
let staff on their property to
check for any signal. |
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Everybody is still on the
lookout for spoor or other signs
of the badger. During Easter
weekend Cliff Dorse,
Biodiversity Co-ordinator for
the City of Cape Town, found
fresh scrapings of a honey
badger in the canyon area of
Blaauwberg Hill. It is hard to
tell if this is the
rehabilitated badger or a
different badger passing through
the area, but who knows?. |
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Tracking equipment is still
being applied when reserve staff
visit Blaauwberg Hill, to check
if the badger is around.
Negotiations are also underway
to organise for a fly-over of
the reserve with tracking
equipment. |
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How you can help: |
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If you see any road-kill on the
roads close to the BCA area
please contact reserve staff at
021 554 0957. |
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Elana Kellerman Joins the North
as Intern |
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Elana Kellerman has been
appointed Environmental
Education Intern at the
Blaauwberg Conservation Area
(BCA) and Rietvlei under the
management of Lizanne Langeveld. |
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Elana Kellerman studied at the
Cape Peninsula University of
Technology (CPUT) and graduated
in 2007 with a diploma in Nature
Conservation. She did her
experiential training at
Rietvlei Wetland Reserve under
the current reserve manager Koos
Retief. |
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She is currently studying
part-time at CPUT for a B-tech
in Nature Conservation. |
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Ever since she was little, Elana
was always taught to value and
care for the planet. Her mission
is to encourage others through
environmental education to also
care for the natural
environment. |
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She is not only involved with
school groups, but also looks
after adult groups as well as
the BCA team. |
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She believes she has a very
rewarding job, since there is
always at least one person in a
group who shows his true
appreciation. According to her,
if a child remembers some of the
important facts you taught him a
year ago, then you have made a
positive contribution to his
life. And if you can manage to
change the mind-set of even a
few individuals every year, you
are making a difference. |
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But Elana can’t do it on her
own. The BCA Friends and the
public at large can also help by
encouraging others to start
caring for the earth. |
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If you have any ideas that Elana
might by able to use to inspire
people, please don’t hesitate to
give her your inputs. |
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Let’s all stand together and
make a difference, because we
can! |
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New Constitution for Friends of
BCA |
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Niel van Wyk |
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Like all similar organisations,
the Friends of BCA is dependent
on donations to carry out its
important work. It has been
brought to our attention that if
we want to attract corporate
donations we will need to
register as a Nonprofit
Organisation (NPO). And since we
have really big plans for the
BCA (come to our AGM to find out
just how big!) we need some
really big donations! |
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In order to register, we need to
have certain provisions included
in our constitution: these
should show that our aim is to
conserve the BCA, and not to
make money. Clauses about how
our organisation is managed, how
our financial affairs are
managed, and certain other
provisions must also be
included. |
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After registration as a NPO we
will qualify as a Public Benefit
Organisation, allowing us to
apply for income tax exemption.
However, the Income Tax Act also
requires certain provisions in
our constitution, mostly
relating to the financial
management of our organisation. |
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Our present constitution, based
on a draft drawn up by WESSA,
falls far short of these
requirements. We therefore
decided to draw up a new
constitution rather than amend
the present one. |
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The final version will be
presented to the Friends for
consideration at our AGM on 24
April. We believe it meets the
requirements of WESSA, the
Nonprofit Organisations Act, and
the Income Tax Act. |
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The draft constitution can be
viewed here. |
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Did You Know? |
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The grounds of two major
hospitals in the area are kept
free of invasive plants by the
Friends of the BCA. We have
negotiated contracts with both
of them, thereby generating
funds for the BCA. In both cases
the use of herbicide is limited
since plants are pulled out
regularly before they become too
large. |
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Contact us if you have a similar
need. We will gladly provide
advice. |
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Newsletter produced by the
Friends of the BCA |
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Email:
friendsofbca@mweb.co.za |
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Chairman: Louis Raubenheimer,
tel 021-554 2221 |
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Secretary: Cindy Welch, tel 084
920 1160 |
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