PROJECTS

The Nature's Valley Trust's projects have four main focus areas:

1. Conservation
2. Research
3. Communities
4. Environmental Education

•  Conservation

Conservation projects include:

Coastal Fynbos and the Brenton Blue Butterfly: This project involves the management and monitoring of rare coastal dune fynbos and the reintroduction of the rare and endangered Brenton Blue Butterfly.

The Phyl Martin Park and indigenous nursery is a botanical garden established within Nature's Valley. The Nature's Valley Trust has facilitated the management of this Park with local residents. During 2005 a small interpretive centre/museum was established.

•  Research

Groot River Estuary: In collaboration with South African National Parks' Scientific Services, the Nature's Valley Trust facilitated and is partly funding a research and monitoring project of the estuary with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the system in order to produce an informed management plan.  A steering committee has been formed to guide the project. 

The Salt River has been in the spotlight due to the discovery of some previously undescribed aquatic insect species. As a result of these findings, the Nature's Valley Trust, funded by the Table Mountain Fund (TMF) is facilitating a research project in the Tsitsikamma region surveying 11 rivers including the Salt River. The aim of the first phase of this research project is to establish whether the Salt River is the only river of these 11 rivers that serve as host to these unique invertebrates. Based on these findings a second and third phase, focusing on the biology and habitat requirements, and how these rivers and the invertebrates can be better conserved. This project was initiated in 2008 and will be ongoing for at least 5 years.

•  Community Projects

Tsitsikamma Eco-Guides : Through a process of training and assessment, community members from the area have been established as an eco-guiding business and to implement environmental education programmes in Nature's Valley and Storms River. The guides have also been provided with training by Birdlife South Africa as part of a programme to establish birding tourism routes along the Garden Route.  We will be working with our partners In 2010, using the lessons learned to expand and improve on the project.

Kurland Greening Programme: The Nature's Valley Trust along with our partners are implementing a greening project in t Kurland Village.  The aim of this ongoing project is to establish a park for the community over time.  In 2009 150 indigenous trees were planted next to the Buffels stream running through the village.  200 peach and plum trees, with the dual goal of greening the village and supplementing the villagers' food supply were also distributed to individual home owners during 2009.

Kurland Village Cleanup Programme: As part of the yearly International Coastal Cleanup activities, the Kurland Village Cleanup programme has been established.  The Nature's Valley Trust along with its partners initiated the first cleanup in 2008 and repeated it successfully in 2009.  In 2009 more than 250 learners and community members, using refuse bags and gloves supplied by the Plastic Federation of South Africa, very enthusiastically participated to collect approximately 10 cubic meters of waste.   

Nature's Valley Community outreach projects include the production of a newsletter, updating and distribution of the Status Report which outlines the issues, environment, organizations and legislation applicable to the area and a series of eco-guidelines have been produced to raise awareness of various issues in and around Nature's Valley. During peak holiday seasons, the Nature's Valley Trust arranges a holiday program to incorporate activities and presentations which are interesting, relevant and informative, aimed at both adults and children visiting Nature's Valley.  The Nature's Valley Triathlon has now firmly been established as a fun event for the whole family.

Nature's Valley Urban Conservancy: The aim of the Urban Conservancy is to encourage members to participate in projects which focus on their individual erven with the common goal of maintaining the environmental integrity of the Valley. Projects include wise waste management, indigenous gardening and sensitive lighting. The main project for the Conservancy currently is to determine the ecological footprint of Nature's Valley and to see how as a community they can improve their impact on the environment.

Please participate in the Nature's Valley Carbon Footprint Project by filling in the Nature's Valley Carbon Footprint Calculator that can be found under the Urban Conservancy section of this web-site.

•  Environmental Education

The Nature's Valley Trust has established nine ' outdoor classrooms' with related resource and activity booklets (linked to the new school curriculum) for each ' classroom ' for use by residents, school groups and visitors that provide in-depth ecological information. The classrooms have proved to be enormously successful and were utilized in SANParks' 'Kids in Parks' programme in 2006 and 2009 (1000 children were included in this programme) and are used by school groups visiting the area and Tsitsikamma National Park. To date it is estimated that in excess of 5 500 children visited these areas. Three new classrooms on Alien Vegetation, Astronomy and the local Nature's Valley Geology are being developed for use from 2010.

In addition to this, the Nature's Valley Trust has conducted the nationally run Adopt-a-Beach programme for the past four years. Grade 8 learners from Crags and Coldstream Primary Schools visit the Valley twice a month for six months of the academic year and attend a camp at the end of each year. Two school groups have given presentations at the CAPE Conference during 2005 and 2006 and were awarded certificates for best presentation.

Partnerships

The establishment of formal and informal partnerships between the Nature's Valley Trust and like-minded environmental and local bodies has been a key focus in developing and sustaining our projects. These partnerships have been mutually beneficial and, in some instances, have added value to existing initiatives. Our partnerships, to date, include:

•  Nature's Valley Ratepayers' Association

•  Bitou Municipality

•  Coastcare

•  Cape Nature

•  SANParks

•  C.A.P.E. ( Cape Action for People and the Environment)

•  G.R.I. ( Garden Route Initiative)

•  Working for Wetlands

•  DWAF (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry)

•  W.W.I.S.A. (Willing Workers in South Africa )

•  Storms River Adventures

•  W.E.S.S.A. (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa )

•  Bitou Tourism

•  Eco-Schools

•  Birdlife South Africa

Funding Agencies

Financial support of the Nature's Valley Trust has come from generous donations made by Trust members and this supports our core running costs. Project support from various national and international funding agencies has ensured the implementation of our various programmes. Funding agencies include:

•  WWF-SA (World Wildlife Fund , South Africa )

•  Green Trust

•  Table Mountain Fund

•  IUCN-NC (International Union for the Conservation of Nature , Netherlands )

•  CEPF (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund)

•  TLLF (Tony & Lisette Lewis Foundation)

•  Project Aware

Consultants and Academic Institutions

Our research projects have been undertaken in consultation with various consultants and academic institutions.

These include:

Prof. Roy Lubke (Dept. Botany, Rhodes University )

Dr Ferdy de Moor (Institute for Aquatic Invertebrates, Albany Museum )

Dr Peter Illgner (Working for Wetlands)

Michael Samways (Department Of Conservation / Ecology And Entomology and Centre for Agricultural Bio-Diversity, Stellenbosch University)

SANParks Scientific Services

River Health Programme

Prof. Charles Breen (Estuaries consultant)

Dave Edge (Lepidopterists Society & Brenton Blue Butterfly)

Environmental Education Unit ( Rhodes University )