Great Fish River Reserve (SA): But trampling through thicket vegetation will probably hurt even more. Members of EarthCollective and Wageningen University MSc student Janneke Spekreijse today commenced four-months of field work as part of the Vegetation Monitoring Programme (VMP) in the Great Fish River Reserve (GFRR), Eastern Cape. The project is in collaboration with the University of Fort Hare and Eastern Cape Parks.

The aim of the VMP is to monitor the impact of (re-)introduced animal species on the botanical composition, structure and cover of the thorny thicket vegetation in the entire 45 000 ha nature reserve. Animals that were re-introduced in recent years are black rhinos, white rhinos, hippopotamus and the cape buffalo. There is speculation of elephants being re-introduced in bigger herds in the future.

Despite the use of remote sensing imagery and mapping tools, the field work still comprises of measuring trees and taking soil samples on foot during long days and 5am starts in the field. Some 100 ‘transect walks’ are awaiting the VMP team who will be aided by three local park rangers. As part of her MSc thesis research, Janneke will take soil samples at every site in her attempt to relate soil characteristics with the vegetation occurring in the area.

“This is going to be exciting… thorny thicket filled with spiny species… I love it!” exclaims team member Coen Boogerd, slightly cynical as he removes some prickly pear thorns from his arm. On the positive side, Coen knows that after the project, he will at least be able to scientifically name and identify every single vegetation species which chooses to ‘thorn’ him.

The coming months will see the team will work on gathering data in the GFRR. This data will serve as a baseline for the Reserve’s vegetation mapping. Ideally, monitoring of the vegetation should be carried out every three years. Updates of the team’s progress will be provided over the coming months.