Spotlight on the M13
We are sure many of you know, one of the major undertakings of Westville Conservancy is to maintain the road reserves along the section of the M13 that runs through our suburb. But what is our objective and what exactly does this work entail?
Objectives:
The 10km east/west stretch of the M13 from 45th Cutting to the Paradise Valley intersection should serve as a corridor for nature, thus striving to protect and showcase our wonderful variety of grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees.
The scope includes where practical, the full width of the road reserve, plus the on and off ramps at the various bridges and interchanges. The area links with many hectares of vacant open land and parks adjacent to the M13 resulting in south to north corridors providing vital connectivity between the Umbilo and Palmiet River Valleys. An example is the area parallel to St. James Road from the N3 to Buckingham Terrance encompassing the Eco Trail, Jimmy Bellows and Westville Park.
Our aim is to eradicate Invasive Alien Plants and allow the local indigenous plants to flourish as they would in their natural habitat and to avoid unnecessary manicuring of the grassy areas, which ultimately equates to “green deserts.”
The work we do involves the following:
1. Our team carries out 4 to 5 comprehensive sweeps per annum.
2. With each sweep we deal with invasive and undesirable plants. Hence the wonderful state of our section. During an average year we carefully and judiciously foliar spray over 2,300 litres of broad leaf specific herbicide and 1,800 litres of non-specific herbicide to suppress undesirable plant growth. In addition, in 2020 we treated more than 161 large invasive trees and carried out the usual hand pulling, cut stump and basal stem treatment of undesirable plants, using 79 litres of a special herbicide mix for the basal stem treatment.
3. Since 2002 we have removed hundreds of large Schinus terebinthifolius (Brazillian Pepper) and a whole host of other exotic and invasive alien trees. These have been replaced with a wide variety of locally indigenous trees, shrubs and aloes. We have also created major landscaping areas, especially in the centre of Westville.
4. We clear for line of sight, keeping our centre and side medians, many of which are very wide, under acceptable control. We prune/cut back shrub and branch encroachment to ensure clear line of sight and safety for pedestrians where the adjacent terrain and crash barriers allow for this. We work smart by carefully foliar spraying along the crash barriers, the shoulder edges and relevant sections of the centre median to economically and productively suppress plant growth where this is considered necessary.
5. Every year we remove and suitably dispose of +/- 880 filled to capacity black plastic bags of litter, recycle a minimum 80 sacks glass and cans and dispose of items too large to place in black plastic bags. This is a major focus particularly during the winter months when plant growth is slower.
6. We clear drains and gutters where necessary to prevent blocked drains and associated flooding.
The photos, we believe, serve to illustrate how the Westville section of the M13 is truly serving as a corridor for nature, thus protecting our wonderful diversity
