The Wildlands Conservation Trust (Wildlands) has purchased Dartmoor Farm (800ha) in the Karkloof District for some R3.3m, to help grow and consolidate the Greater Karkloof Conservation Area (3100ha including Dartmoor). The farm is being proclaimed as a protected area, and will be donated to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife early in 2011.
Says Wildlands Programme Manager, Dr Roelie Kloppers: “The Karkloof is rich in threatened and endemic biodiversity, which is protected in small, isolated conservation areas spread throughout the district. Dartmoor forms an important corridor linking the various fragmented pieces of land into a consolidated conservation area. Dartmoor has been at the top of Ezemvelo’s wish list for areas to bring under conservation for the last thirty years.”
Dartmoor was chosen because of its biodiversity; the irreplaceable habitat includes mist belt grasslands that support such critically endangered species as Oribi and Wattled Crane. By virtue of its crucial location, Dartmoor also links existing Protected Areas in the Karkloof conservation area to create a single, contiguous conservation area with a mix of government and private sector landowners.
According to Ezemvelo Ecological Advice Coordinator for uKhahlamba, Ian Rushworth: “This area is one of the two most important Wattled Crane breeding areas in the country. Its value is critical from this perspective. The fact that it will be fenced and patrolled will make Wattled Crane chicks less vulnerable to attacks by feral dogs. The area also has the potential to become one of the more important Oribi conservation areas in the province. It could easily support two or three dozen Oribi, and the fences and patrols will reduce the risk of poaching by dog hunters. The purchase and donation of Dartmoor by Wildlands to Ezemvelo is contributing directly to achieving our conservation objectives in the province.”
Kloppers says the Wildlands Conservation Trust has granted R5 million to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife this year to support formal conservation activities in the province. The new grant follows a R4,4 million grant made to Ezemvelo between 2007 and 2010 to support projects such as Wild Dog monitoring, and Bearded Vulture research. This time the grant is being used to support the provincial protected areas expansion plan. The Greater Karkloof Conservation Area will be integrated into Ezemvelo’s Stewardship Programme, which gives private and communal landowners the tools to protect their land and contribute to provincial conservation targets while receiving various incentives and benefits from the State for doing so.
Photographs: Stewart Nolan