It’s illegal to cut milkwood trees
The felling of old milkwood trees at the Southport Clinic is a tragic state of affairs.
Shock has been expressed over the cutting down of protected milkwood trees.
Residents were horrified to find the old trees at the Southport Clinic in Grey Road had been chopped down recently.
One resident in particular, Clare Riebeseel, made an official complaint to various government bodies.
The Herald also reported it to Ray Nkonyeni Municipality and Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, which acknowledged the email and said it would investigate.
Milkwood trees (Sideroxylon inerme) are protected in South Africa, and it’s illegal to damage, move, or destroy them without a license, as per the National Forests Act of 1998.
They are protected due to a unique micro-environment that their thickets create and may not be cut down without a permit.
Milkwood trees are special due to being hardy, slow-growing, twisting trees with dark green rubbery leaves, which often disperse sticky, black berries.
A non-profit organisation, Grootbos Foundation, further described the tree as having sprawling branches which create sheltered thickets that are habitats for a variety of wildlife in the area.
The foundation wrote that milkwood trees are one of a few trees that are able to withstand the harsh salt-laden winds that race along and scour the southern coastline of South Africa.
Riebeseel said she loves this quote by American actor Ian Somerhalder: “The environment is in us, not outside of us. The trees are our lungs, the rivers our bloodstream. We are all interconnected, and what you do to the environment, ultimately, you do to yourself.”
She further stressed how we must care for our planet like we care for ourselves.
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