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For your interest and information, we would like to announce that this Wednesday morning (10 August 2011) we intend burning one of our reedbeds at Rondevlei to the north of the main vlei, ahead of the first and second bird hides. We have obtained permission from Air Pollution Control and the City’s Fire & Rescue Department for this activity and the weather forecast for Wednesday shows favourable conditions for the burn. We do not anticipate a very large fire, but there will be a considerable amount of smoke visible during the day. We aim to commence with the burn by 08:30 and hope to finish by early on in the afternoon. Fire-breaks have been prepared either side of the reedbed and we will be burning towards the open water for safety reasons. The purpose of this burn will be to reduce the biomass and rejuvenate the growth of a very old, dense reedbed. This is part of a long-term ecological maintenance plan to try and reduce the excessive growth of reeds around Rondevlei as a whole, to improve the condition of senescent reedbeds, which will in turn promote biodiversity. This will also be a means to improve visibility across the vlei for visitors and birdwatchers. Please contact Rondevlei Nature Reserve at 021-706 2404 for any queries or comments.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Kind regards
Tamaryn