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Sylvania
Mr. James Silubane and his team, who harvested the Eucalyptus stand on the Sylvania property. Harvesting commenced 14 March 2000. This date coincided with the "Day of Action", organized by the International Rivers Network.
The SYLVANIA Project The Farm : Sylvania The Place : Houtbosloop Valley, Mpumalanga, South Africa The History : How we got to this point Central to this farm, planted on the banks of the Houtbosloop River there is a bluegum plantation (+-20ha). SAWAC has been given permission to use this plantation as an experiment. We will "deforest" that plantation, and use the cleared up areas to conduct experiments as to the long term rehabilitation of such an area. In this task we will request the help and advice from all interested people. Any input would be highly appreciated. The experiments will, with the help of highly qualified people on the list be conducted in a scientific and very transparent manner. All relevant information will be placed on the SAWAC web site, so proceedings will be monitored globally!
In the Houtbosloop Valley, 35km from Nelspruit there is a farm, "Sylvania". The recently deceased farmer, used to tell, that when he arrived here, there were 14 living fountains on his property. Currently there are none. The farm lies in the base of the valley - all the upper catchment has been "afforested". On the one side Sappi, the other side "Pine Valley". In the river, central to his property lives a Bluegum plantation. This plantation is not that big, maybe 20ha. The farmers daughter has been contacted, and her permission asked to use the area as a SAWAC project, to remove the Aliens, and experiment with less environmentally destructive produce on a small scale. On the long term, we would want to experiment with rehabilitating the area, as far as possible. In this, SAWAC will request the advice off all on the list. Use will be made of a digital camera and photos of the project placed on the SAWAC web site, thus enabling all to monitor results. On the farm there are many people - virtually destitute. They will be involved all the way.
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