Volunteer groups will continue helping Table Mountain National Park tackle invasive alien plants for another three years.
Cape Town, South Africa (11 September 2026) – Volunteers play a big role in helping Table Mountain National Park tackle invasive alien plants – 29 groups have been given the go-ahead to continue their work for another three years.
The groups have had their permits renewed by Table Mountain National Park (TMNP), allowing them to continue clearing invasive vegetation.
Over the past year alone, volunteers contributed an estimated 7500 person-days of work and treated more than one million invasive alien plants across the park!
These species include pine, eucalyptus, hakea and wattle, which all spread rapidly through the landscape. They take up space, water and nutrients that our beautiful indigenous fynbos depend on.
Invasive plants can reduce biodiversity, interfere with natural ecological processes and place more pressure on already limited water resources. Dense stands of invasive vegetation also increase wildfire risks that lead to hotter and more intense wildfires that threaten ecosystems within the park and communities living around it.
Among the local heroes continuing the work for the next three years are Friends of Elsie’s Peak, Friends of Silvermine, Newlands Conservation Group, Boyes Drive Clearing Group, along with many others.
The Sugarbird Trust alone coordinates 13 clearing groups working across the park.
There are some new hands joining in, too. FynForce from Kommetjie, Project Noordhoeked from Noordhoek and another Sugarbird Trust team working in the Silvermine Valley have all joined the programme.
SANParks says the volunteer groups make a meaningful contribution to protecting the park and the biodiversity found within it.
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This type of conservation is not always easy to notice when you are standing at a viewpoint or walking a trail, but the views we get to enjoy are maintained by people putting in thousands of hours to help keep the mountain healthy!
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