True story: I saved a forest

Forestry ruling stays execution

Isabelle Luker

Dubbed 'a little piece of paradise' by renowned conservationist the late Bill Duthie, two pockets of natural indigenous coastal forest in Marine Drive, Umhlanga, have had a reprieve from being summarily felled. 

Unfortunately the felling of trees had already begun, but a concerned member of the body corporate contacted the Forestry department. The department immediately faxed a warning to stop the felling of the trees. An onsite inspection, coupled with evidence that the trees had been part of the coastal forest before the complex was built, resulted in a final decision that a licence was indeed required.

The decision reads:

"Although the trees are a remnant of a larger forest patch fragmented by development and has been impacted upon by gardening interventions, it still conforms to the definition of "natural forest" of the National Forests Act, as supplemented by the technical definitions as described in the Memorandum of Understanding on Policy Principles and Guidelines for Co-operative Control of Development Affecting Natural Forests in KwaZulu-Natal. This is an official policy document applicable to forests in your province. The technical definition of "natural forest" as described in that document has been tested successfully in court. Another official document titled Classification System for South African Indigenous Forests: An objective classification for the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry of 2003 guides the identification of forest types, and from its descriptions the closed-canopy clump of trees at Spring Glade can be placed in the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Forest type. It is one of the 26 national forest types officially declared to be natural forest by Notice 762 in the Government Gazette of 18 July 2008.

Based on the above, our technical ruling is that the clump of trees at Spring Glade (Marine Drive, La Lucia) can be considered to be natural forest, and requires a licence from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries before any cutting or pruning of trees may be done."

A similar situation occurred in The Manors complex in Umhlanga.  An entire copse of old indigenous trees was ripped out, and a case of malicious damage to property is pending.

 We can take heart that there are many individuals who are passionate about conservation. The least we can do for our children is to protect this legacy, so that they, and their children in turn, may discover the wonder and beauty of a forest.

 The forest: some were not saved.

Footnote: For my trouble during this epic battle I was punched in the face; stalked, and shoved around by the people who wanted the forest removed. The chairman of the complex at that time advised me to 'get out of Spring Glade because it's easy to pay someone to do something to you in these harsh economice times'. I no longer live there. But the forest does!