Botfriends Challenge

Botfriends clearing alien species challenge

The Botfriends challenge was issued by Bruce Bayer, to the community of Botfriends for the clearing of alien species on public land, with a generous donation of R2 000.

Altogether generous donations of R10 050 were received including R2 000 from the FRA and another R2 000 from Bruce

This was used to extend the alien clearing program of Botfriends, at a direct cost of R5 800. The total money spent was R15 850 to clear over 24ha of public land in the areas as depicted on the map. A further generous donation of clearing signs was made by Remax Property, at a cost price of about R5 000. Generous time and effort were put in by Botfriends to manage the clearing, supply equipment and gather data from the clearing operation.

Each area cleared was rated in terms of how dense the alien infestation was, previous clearing history and costs established accurately, for initial clearing and follow-up clearing. This data is not readily available in the literature and will be valuable in extending the clearing operation and establishing cost effective techniques.

Preliminary data gathered from Botfriends clearing program

E              1-2m plants, producing seed, dense, 80-100% invaded, very poor previous clearing

B1           Regrowth from stumps and seedlings, high density, poor previous clearing

B             Initial clearing, some regrowth from stumps and seedlings, medium density

C             2^nd Stage. Scattered plants after initial correct clearing

D             3^rd Stage. Follow-up, few seedlings and missed plants

Two main points to note in the graph above

1. The high cost of previously badly cleared areas, E and B1. Some areas were significantly higher than E, off the chart, these areas need a different strategy to bring them within range of a reasonable costs.
2. The significant reduction in costs from B1 and B to C and D. This is where we have allowed natural competition from indigenous species to assist in suppressing alien seedling growth.

The costs varied from as little as R24/ha to over R20 000/ha. This helped to prioritise future areas to be cleared together with the numerous other factors such as existing status, biodiversity gains, potential water gains, aesthetics and fire hazards.

The preliminary data is presented in Figure 1. The map shows the areas cleared in Fisherhaven and an indication of future priorities. As one can see from the map a considerable area has been cleared, the green and red areas. Most of the red areas need very little extra work to be converted to green areas. The next priority areas require more funding and Botfriends is trying to raise additional funding, which will make a considerable difference to Fisherhaven.

The most obvious conclusions drawn from this data are the enormous future costs of existing poor clearing techniques or incorrect short-term clearing techniques applied in the past and still continuing today. Botfriends is working hard to correct these poor or incorrect techniques to make the gains that can be achieved much more cost effective in the long term. More about this later.

The Bot Challenge as posted on Facebook pages.

If you wish to contribute please download, complete and mail to [email protected]

The Botfriends Challenge is ongoing and will be updated. The Botfriends Alien Clearing Program BACP has been developed to expand this project to 3 000ha. This requires a large amount of funding.