FRIDAY UPDATE – BRING YOUR GUMBOOTS!
Both the lantern parade and food stalls will move undercover because of the rain predicted for Saturday.
“Luckily Summerhill has a beautiful undercover section,” says organiser Pippa Schlegel. “We are hoping there will be a break in the rain – although gumboots will be a good idea!”
ORIGINAL POST
In a fairy tale, a thicket is an impenetrable forest, a good place to hide or somewhere you could get lost. In science, Thicket is a biome – a system of plant, animal, microbial and geological life that functions as a unit in a particular environment.
The Thicket Festival, hosted by the Friends of Waters Meeting reserve, brings participants and audiences up to speed with the latest research on the special local biome and why it matters. Not just to environerds, scientists and people with daypacks, sunscreen and sensible boots – but to everyone on the planet who enjoys living and breathing.
This year’s Thicket Festival is science with a bit of fairy tale at the end. It takes place on Saturday October 7 at Summerhill Farm on the R67 just outside Bathurst on the Port Alfred side (just follow the Big Pineapple).
It starts with crafters’ and other stalls. Arrive by 9 and spend time there before the day’s programme starts at 10am. The talks will be about – well – Thicket. You’ll find out is why Thicket matters – not just to scientists who study it, but to the communities living in and around it.
Here’s the programme for Saturday 7 October at the Summerhill Inn:
● 10am Welcome and why a festival to celebrate thicket vegetation? – Rina Grant-Biggs
● 10.05am Challenges to sustainable use of the different types of thicket – when is it most vulnerable and how can we look after it? – Michael Powell
● 10:45am Conservation and sustainable use of the thicket as contributing to the planned corridor between Addo and the Amatolas. – Kristal Maze.
● 11:30am Challenges of sustainable farming in the thicket – how do farmers balance economic and conservation challenges? – Justin Gird
● 12:15pm The use and sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants in the thicket – is there economic potential? – Finn Rautenbach
Lunch will be available at Summerhill Inn.
● 2.30pm The Bathurst commonage – how do we manage the different uses of the commonage sustainably. – Elizabeth Milne
● 3.15pm The threat of alien invasive plants to the thicket – how can this be addressed? – Iain Paterson
● 7pm – Lantern parade
About the speakers
Rina Grant-Biggs retired in the Eastern Cape after a career as a systems ecologist in the Kruger National Park. Here, she was struck by the wide variety of plant species and how differently they behave to those in the savanna. She joined the Rhodes Restoration Research Group, where her research includes plant-herbivore interactions in thicket and the role of thicket in providing ecosystem services, especially biodiversity. She is the chairperson of the Friends of Waters Meeting.
Mike Powell, director of the Rhodes Restoration Research Group, is completing a PhD in the Department of Environmental Science. His thesis examines the complexities in thicket restoration (tipping points, thresholds, and barriers).
Kristal Maze is General Manager at . * Kristal serves on several Boards and Trusts in the biodiversity sphere. In her former role as Chief Director of Biodiversity Planning and Policy at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, she led a programme that delivers science based advice in response to real world policy and implementation challenges of a developmental state. Through her leadership, SANBI pioneered the development of spatial planning tools to aid development decision making and optimise future land use and the green economy. She championed the concept of ecological infrastructure as part of the National Infrastructure Plan, and catalysed new partnerships between the biodiversity sector, municipal engineering and water and sanitation to enhance water security, service delivery and job creation.
Justin Gird is the co-director of the Baviaanskloof Landscape from Living Lands. Living Lands provides practical support to farmers, enables implementation of large-scale ecological rehabilitation projects, assists with information flow between role players and explores new opportunities in the agricultural-ecological interface.
Finn Rautenbach is the head horticulturist at Afrigetics. The Bathurst resident is interested in medicinal plants and their use, and conserving the indigenous thicket.
Elizabeth Milne is a retired management consultant who has spent 20 years pursuing her passion for indigenous plants. She co-founded the Friends of Waters Meeting, co-authored a booklet on Thicket trees and has written several booklets on South African medicinal plants.
Iain Paterson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology and Entomology who specialises in various aspects of biological control of weeds. He has worked as an exploratory entomologist surveying for new potential biological control agents on a number of invasive alien plant species.
*Kristal Maze bio corrected to reflect her current employment.
