A 10-hectare prescribed burn below Tafelberg Road concluded this week, and it was a big success; the burn will prevent wildfires and boost the environment.
Cape Town, South Africa (05 April 2024) – The Table Mountain National Park and the Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS) have celebrated the successful prescribed burn below Tafelberg Road, which concluded on the 3rd of April 2024. Prescribed burns help the environment and prevent runaway wildfires from destroying the area.
According to the VWS, fynbos vegetation is both fire-prone and fire-adapted, and the use of fire forms an integral part of the ecological management of the park. TMNP’s Fire Management Department, together with the SANParks Cape Research Centre, has developed a scientific Prescribed Burning Plan for the entire park. This plan determines and prioritises areas for prescribed burning, taking into consideration veld age, rare and endangered species, alien clearing, etc. (biodiversity as well as protection of properties).
This burn was done between an area that was subject to a wildfire in 2023 and the March 2023 prescribed burn area. Now the area below Tafelberg Road and the Cable Station has been burned and will begin to rejuvenate and regrow over the next year.
The reasons for conducting prescribed burns in fynbos vegetation are:
a) To reduce fire hazards by reducing the unnecessary “fuel” accumulated in the field as a result of Alien Plant Clearing operations
b) To rejuvenate the fire-adapted and fire-dependent fynbos vegetation
c) To form an essential part of control operations aimed at eliminating invasive alien plants.
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