Abstract
In 1948, F.H. Wroughton speculated in the pages of The Journal of the South African Forestry Association that fire exclusion might lead to the extinction of fire-adapted species where fire was successfully suppressed for long periods, and harmfully intense fires when fires did finally break out. He advocated experiments in using fire sensibly as a management tool, seeing that ‘fire, wind and irresponsibles will always be with us’ and bush fires therefore impossible to eliminate. He acknowledged that his views might ‘appear unspeakably heretical’, but argued that ‘when we set out to assist nature we should not discard as utterly harmful a factor which has influenced nature in developing the covering of our soil … merely because fire is absolutely destructive in exotic plantations’. He encouraged South Africans to learn from colonial foresters in India who had had to overcome their European anti-fire prejudices and discover that fires were essential for the regeneration of some indigenous Indian forest trees. In the same issue of the journal, Wicht recommended ‘controlled broadcast burning’ to ‘prevent the luxuriant development of the sclerophyll scrub vegetation in order to decrease its inflammability’.3
South Africa is drying up on a large scale … Most of this has resulted from long-continued reckless burning-off of mountains and hills that formerly nurtured indigenous water-holding growth.
Hugh Hammond Bennett, 19451
The basis of sound forestry is management to produce sustained yields. Good farming is permanent farming, deriving sustained yields from the land, without deterioration of soils and water supplies. Conservation of soils and water is therefore common ground for farmers and foresters. It has been one of the chief objects of forestry in South Africa for seventy years.
C.L. Wicht, 19482
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Notes
H.H. Bennett, 1945, Soil Erosion and Land Use in the Union of South Africa (Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Agriculture and Forestry), p.23.
C.L. Wicht, 1948, ‘The Role of South African Forestry in the Conservation of Natural Resources,’ corrected proof, paper presented at Conference Africaine des Sols, Goma, Congo Belge, November 1948, p.2.
F.H. Wroughton, 1948, ‘To Burn or Not to Burn,’ JSAFA, 16, 76–8;
C.L. Wicht, 1948, ‘Hydrological Research in South African Forestry,’ JSAFA, 16, 4–21, 12.
For the Wicht report’s recommendations on prescribed burning, see 40–1. On the Department’s decision and failure to implement it, see A.H.W. Seydack and S.J. Bekker, 1993, ‘Review of Fynbos Catchment Management Policy,’ Unpublished Report, Republic of South Africa, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, copy from author Seydack, pp.1–2.
H.H. Bennett, 1945, ‘Soil Erosion’: On Veld Burning, pp.9, 22–4, and on technical staff, pp.25–6. See Bennett’s farewell message, published in Libertas by T.C. Robertson as ‘South Africa, I pity you,’ cited in S. Bell, 1985, The Happy Warrior: The Story of T.C. Robertson (Howick, South Africa: T.C. Robertson Trust), p.85.
C.T. te Water, preface to E. Roux, 1946, The Veld and the Future (Cape Town, South Africa: The African Bookman), unnumbered page. Roux advocated the use of fire in humid grasslands to manipulate the plant succession, 23–6.
C.L. Wicht, 1948, ‘Role of South African Forestry,’ p.2. The title Director of Forestry changed in 1958 when D.R. de Wet became Secretary for Forestry. A.E. Sonntag, Secretary from 1979, became Deputy Director-General of the Directorate of Forestry and Environmental Conservation in 1982. In the 1980s the Department became a branch of the Department of Environment Affairs.
F.J. Kruger, 1979, ‘Fire,’ in J.A. Day, N.R. Siegfried, and M.L. Jarman (eds.), Fynbos Ecology: A Preliminary Synthesis, CSIR Report No.40 (Pretoria, South Africa: CSIR), pp.43–57, 45. On conservancies: ARFD1955/56 U.G.59/1958, p.19; ARFD1962/63 R.P.58/1965, p.25.
S. Jones and A. Muller, 1992, The South African Economy, 1910–90 (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan), pp.189, 306. For locomotive fires, see ARFD R.P.20/1961, p.12.
J.C. Ross, 1963, Soil Conservation in South Africa (Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Agricultural Technical Services), p.44.
S.J. Pyne, 1997, Vestal Fire: An Environmental History, told through Fire, of Europe and Europe’s Encounter with the World (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press), p.538.
H.B. Rycroft, 1947, ‘A Note on the Immediate Effects of Veldburning on Stormflow in a Jonkershoek Stream Catchment,’ JSAFA, 15, 80–8.
J.C. Ross, 1961, Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Conservation of Mountain Catchments in South Africa (Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Agricultural Technical Services), pp.1–2, 12–14, 18, 29.
C.L. Wicht, 1958, ‘The Management of Water Catchments,’ Technical Report for the Department of Forestry, pp.1–2, available at: http://digi.nrf.ac.za/dspace/handle/10624/434.
C.L. Wicht, 1960, ‘Die invloed van beheerde brand en bebossing op die waterleweringspotensiaal van die bergopvanggebiede in die winter-reënstreek,’ confidential technical report, available at: http://digi.nrf.ac.za/dspace/handle/10624/411;
C.H. Banks, 1964, ‘Further Notes on the Effect of Autumnal Veldburning on Stormflow in the Abdolskloof Catchment, Jonkershoek,’ Forestry in South Africa, 4, 79–84.
Republic of South Africa, Annual Reports of the Department of Forestry (R.P.), R.P.80/1964, pp.1, 10; R.P.10/1967, p.42, and see M. Grut, 1965, Forestry and Forest Industry in South Africa (Amsterdam, the Netherlands: A.A. Balkema), p.31.
The research stations were: Jonkershoek (Eerste Rivier), Jakkalsrivier in the Caledon district (Bot River), and Zachariashoek in the Paarl district (Wemmer and Berg rivers). Interview with Fred Kruger, Pretoria, South Africa, 6 September 2007; On Keet: M. Gunn and L.E. Codd, 1981, Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa (Cape Town, South Africa: A.A. Balkema), p.204;
On the Lückhoffs: H.G. Glen and G. Germishuizen (compilers), 2010, Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa, 2nd ed., Strelitzia 26 (Pretoria, South Africa: South African National Biodiversity Institute), p.275.
H.L. Malherbe, E.R. March, U.W. Nanni, C.E.M. Tidmarsh, F.S. Grevenstein, J.C. Cox, and J.S. Whitmore, 1968, ‘Report of the Interdepartmental Committee of Investigation into Afforestation and Water Supplies in South Africa,’ Unpublished Report, Plant Sciences Library, University of Oxford, Ref.83313.
H.L. Malherbe, E.R. March, U.W. Nanni, C.E.M. Tidmarsh, F.S. Grevenstein, J.C. Cox, and J.S. Whitmore, 1968, ‘Report of the Interdepartmental Committee.’ On the Forest Act, see ARFD1963/64 R.P.34/1966, p.13.
ARFD R.P.18/1972, p.8. On agricultural research and continuing anti-burning prejudice, see J.D. Scott, 1970, ‘Pros and Cons of Eliminating Veld Burning,’ Proceedings of the Grassland Society of South Africa, 5, 23–6;
S. Pooley, 2010, ‘An Environmental History of Fire in South Africa in the Twentieth Century’ (DPhil thesis, University of Oxford), pp.64–75. On the implementation of burning policy, see Seydack and Bekker, 1993, ‘Review,’ p.4.
P.G. Jordaan, 1949, ‘Aantekeninge oor die voortplanting en brandperiodes van Protea mellifera Thunb.,’ The Journal of South African Botany, 15, 4, 121–5, 124, 125. In 1935 Watt had considered wildfires every eight to ten years to be acceptable: W.E. Watt, 1935, ‘Forest Protection from Fire,’ supplement to BEFC 4, pp.3–4.
ARFD1952/53 U.G.47/1954, p.3; ARFD1953/54 U.G.38/1955, p.3. A.V. Hall, 1959, ‘Observations on the Distribution and Ecology of Orchidaceae in the Muizenberg Mountains, Cape Peninsula,’ Journal of South African Botany, 25, 265–78.
B.W. van Wilgen, 2009, ‘The Evolution of Fire and Invasive Plant Management Practice in Fynbos,’ SAJS, 105, 335–42, 336;
S.W. Worth and B.W. van Wilgen, 1988, ‘The Blushing Bride: Status of an Endangered Species,’ Veld & Flora, 74, 122–3, 122.
ARFD1971/72 R.P.32/1973, p.7; ARFD1973/74 R.P.42/1975, p.7. On Conservation Forestry research: H.A. Lückhoff and C.L. Wicht, 1975, ‘The Influence of Demand and Supply Trends on the Research Programme of the Forest Research Institute, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa,’ paper presented at an International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) conference, Paris, pp.1–7.
J.B. Hagan, 2008, ‘Teaching Ecology during the Environmental Age, 1965–80,’ Environmental History, 13, 704–23, 705–6, 708.
D. Worster, 1994, Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp.388–411.
IBP position statement cited in C. Kwa, 1987, ‘Representations of Nature Mediating Between Ecology and Science Policy: The Case of the International Biological Programme,’ Social Studies of Science, 17, 3, 413–42, 415; On the IBP see also Worster, Nature’s Economy, pp.372–3;
H.A. Mooney, 1998, The Globalization of Ecological Thought (Oldendorf/Luhe, Germany: Ecology Institute), pp.32, 48.
Mooney, Globalization of Ecological Thought, pp.33, 4–5; Jon E. Keeley, W.J. Bond, R.A. Bradstock, J.G. Pausas, and P.W. Rundel, 2012, Fire in Mediterranean Ecosystems: Ecology, Evolution and Management (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp.11, 27.
H.A. Mooney and C.E. Conrad (eds.), 1977, Proceedings of the Symposium on the Environmental Consequences of Fire and Fuel Management in Mediterranean-Climate Ecosystems, Tech Report WO-3 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture);
F.J. Kruger, 1977, ‘Ecology of Cape Fynbos in Relation to Fire,’ in H.A. Mooney and C.E. Conrad (eds.), 1977, ‘Symposium on the Environmental Consequences of Fire,’ pp.230–44.
W.J. Bond, 1983, ‘On Alpha Diversity and the Richness of the Cape Flora: A study in Southern Cape Fynbos,’ in F.J. Kruger, D.T. Mitchell, and J.U.M. Jarvis (eds.), Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems, pp.336–56, 351–2.
F.J. Kruger, 1983, ‘Plant Community Diversity and Dynamics in Relation to Fire,’ in F.J. Kruger, D.T. Mitchell, and J.U.M. Jarvis (eds.), Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems, pp.446–72.
Ibid., pp.447–48; B.W. van Wilgen, 1980, ‘Some Effects of Fire Frequency on Fynbos at Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch, South Africa’ (MSc dissertation, University of Cape Town), p.452.
P.G. Jordaan, 1965, ‘Die Invloed van ’n Winterbrand op die Voortplanting van Vier Soorte van die Proteaceae,’ Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskappe, 5, 27–31.
F.J. Kruger, 1982, ‘Prescribing Fire Frequencies in Cape Fynbos in Relation to Plant Demography,’ in C.E. Conrad and W.C. Oechel (Technical Coordinators), ‘Symposium on Dynamics and Management of Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems,’ San Diego State University, General Technical Report PSW-58 (Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station), pp.118–22.
W.J. Bond, 1984, ‘Fire Survival of Cape Proteaceae — Influence of Fire Season and Seed Predators,’ Vegetatio, 56, 65–74, 73. For a summary of the rainfall regions,
see G. Forsyth and B.W. van Wilgen, 2007, ‘An Analysis of the Fire History Records from Protected Areas in the Western Cape,’ CSIR Report CSIR/NRE/ECO/ER/2007/0118/C (Stellenbosch, CSIR), pp.1–2.
Interview with W.J. Bond; W.J. Bond and B.W. van Wilgen, 1996, Fire and Plants (London: Chapman & Hall).
J.L. Harper, 1967, ‘A Darwinian Approach to Plant Ecology,’ Journal of Ecology, 55, 2, 247–70, 248, 253, 255, 259–60, 263.
J.L. Harper, 1977, Population Biology of Plants (London: Academic Press), pp.xiii–xxii for a summary.
Interview with Professor Jeffrey Burley, Green College, Oxford, 5 March 2008; P. de V. Booysen, 1984, ‘Preface,’ in P. de V. Booysen and N.M. Tainton (eds.), Ecological Effects of Fire in South African Ecosystems (Berlin, Germany: Springer Verlag). Trollope encountered American foresters’ preoccupation with fire intensity at the 1971 Tall Timbers Fire Ecology conference organised in Tallahassee, Florida, by Edwin Komarek Snr. and dedicated to South African ecologist John Phillips’s contribution to fire ecology in Africa.
See W.S.W. Trollope, 1984, ‘Characteristics of Fire Behaviour,’ in P. de V. Booysen and N.M. Tainton (eds.), Ecological Effects of Fire, pp.200–17.
Interview with Prof. Brian Huntley, South African National Botanical Institute, Kirstenbosch, South Africa, 9 October 2007. For an overview of the Fynbos Biome Project, see Brian J. Huntley, 1992, ‘The Fynbos Biome Project,’ in R.M. Cowling (ed.), The Ecology of Fynbos: Nutrients, Fire and Diversity (Cape Town, South Africa: Oxford University Press), pp.1–5;
F.J. Kruger, 1978, ‘Description of the Fynbos Biome Project,’ National Scientific Programs Unit: CSIR, South African National Scientific Programs Report 28. Regarding MAREP: interview with Christo Marais, Cape Town, 3 October 2008.
R.M. Cowling, P.M. Holmes, and A.G. Rebelo, 1992, ‘Plant Diversity and Endemism,’ in R.M. Cowling (ed.), Ecology of Fynbos, 62–112, 72.
B.W. van Wilgen, D.M. Richardson, and A.H.W. Seydack, 1994, ‘Managing Fynbos for Biodiversity: Constraints and Options in a Fire-prone Environment,’ SAJS, 90, 322–8, see 322–3. Richard M. Cowling’s key paper on this is, 1987, ‘Fire and its Role in Coexistence and Speciation in Gondwanan Shrublands,’ SAJS, 83, 106–12.
A.G. Rebelo, 1992 ‘Preservation of Biotic Diversity,’ in R.M. Cowling (ed.), Ecology of Fynbos, p.347.
R. Noble and R.O. Slatyer, 1980, ‘The Use of Vital Attributes to Predict Successional Changes in Plant Communities Subject to Recurrent Disturbances,’ Vegetatio, 43, 5–21.
W.J. Bond, J. Vlok, and M. Viviers, 1984, ‘Variation in Seedling Recruitment of Cape Proteaceae after Fire,’ Journal of Ecology, 72, 209–21;
B.W. van Wilgen and M. Viviers, 1985, ‘The Effect of Season of Fire on Serotinous Proteaceae in the Western Cape and the Implications for Fynbos Management,’ SAFJ, 133, 49–53;
B.W. van Wilgen, W.J. Bond, and D.M. Richardson, 1992, ‘Ecosystem Management,’ in R.M. Cowling (ed.), Ecology of Fynbos, pp.345–71, 348, 349–50;
see also J.J. Midgley, 1989, ‘Season of Burn of Serotinous Proteaceae: A Critical Review and Further Data,’ SAJB, 55, 165–70.
ARFD R.P.20/1961, p.12; D.M. Richardson, I.A.W. Macdonald, P.M. Holmes, and R.M. Cowling, 1992, ‘Plant and Animal Invasions,’ in R.M. Cowling (ed.), Ecology of Fynbos, pp.271–308, 270; van Wilgen et al., ‘Ecosystem Management,’ p.362.
W.S.W. Trollope, 1973, ‘Fire as a Method of Controlling Macchia (Fynbos) Vegetation on the Amatole Mountains of the Eastern Cape,’ Proceedings of the Grassland Society of South Africa, 8, 35–41; Rebelo, ‘Preservation of Biotic Diversity,’ pp.318, 344. Cape Times, ‘Hottentots Holland Review,’ 11 November 1971, 5.
D.R. Woods, 1985, ‘An Innovative and Far-sighted Research Support Program,’ BioEssays, 3, 6, 272–3; Interview with Brian J. Huntley; Interview with W.J. Bond.
P.J. Brown, P.T. Manders, D.P. Bands, F.J. Kruger, and R.H. Andrag, 1991, ‘Prescribed Burning as a Conservation Management Practice: A Case History from the Cederberg Mountains, Cape Province, South Africa,’ Biological Conservation, 56, 2, 133–50, 147.
Interview with Greg Forsythe, CSIR, Stellenbosch, 15 October 2007; F.J. Kruger, G.G. Forsyth, L.M. Kruger, K. Slater, D.C. Le Maitre, and J. Matshate, 2006, ‘Classification of Veldfire Risk in South Africa for the Administration of the Legislation regarding Fire Management,’ in D.X. Viegas (ed.), Proceedings of 5th International Conference on Forest Fire Research, 27–30 November 2006, Portugal (Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier B.V.), p.1; Interview with Zane Erasmus, by telephone, 25 October 2007;
C.N. de Ronde, 1999, ‘1998: A Year of Destructive Wildfires in South Africa,’ International Forest Fire News, 20, 73–8, 74.
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Pooley, S. (2014). Science, Management and Fire in Fynbos: 1945–99. In: Burning Table Mountain. Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137415448_5
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