Conserving dune rehab helps nature along
The rehabilitation of Toti beaches continued this week with Toti Conservancy's dune rehabilitation programme.
“Corinne Winson led by example as she laboured for many hours together with staff from the eThekweni Municipality parks department’s natural resources division and staff from the extended public works programme last week,” said the conservancy’s vice-chairman, Reverend Andrew Manning.
“They removed invasive hyacinth from the Toti River and packed it up on the beach to create a net which will then assist the natural process of dune growth.” This is necessary because the natural process of sand flow and the formation of dunes is affected by adjacent developments and abuse by people along the beach.
“Dunes are a vital part of the beach environment. The public need to be aware that the project involves using vegetative material as a source of nutrients for the dune plants, which is then covered by sand as the wind blows. This enables vegetation to grow on the dunes and provides the necessary protective barrier. This has been effectively done along sections of Doonside and Warner Beach.
The hyacinth in Toti River establishes itself at various points upstream and a floating mass eventually ends up in the lagoon where it collects because it cannot flow out over the weir. Normally, if the river mouth was open, this mass of vegetation would wash out to sea and then back up onto the beaches. All that is being done therefore is assisting the natural cycle to continue, instead of removing the vegetation to landfill sites. Sometimes these measures are required to ensure that nature is able to do what it was designed to do,” said Rev Manning.
“The weather has been inclement over the past couple of days, but work continues,” said Corinne. “Two men employed by Jannie Venter are also clearing the hyacinth, which has a negative impact on Jannie’s boating enterprise.”
The staff working along the beaches are from the parks department’s beach maintenance section and not Durban Solid Waste, as stated in last week’s article. The conservancy apologises for the error.
“Eddie Hattingh, who initiated the amazing work that has been done in front of The Dunes at the end of Topham Road, as well as further along towards Warner Beach has been supportive and is my inspiration behind taking on our own dune rehabilitation project.”
