Spotted in the N7 Road Reserve

On a recent trip trip to Garies, I saw these beauties in the road reserve. The Amarylid Hessea stellatus and the succulent Conophytum subvenustratum.

Funding from THE PLANT CONSERVATION UNIT

After getting in touch with Timm Hoffman from the Botany department at UCT to discuss the possibility of making the N7 Road Reserve walk into a formal study, his organisation (The Plant Conservation Unit - PCU) offered to financially suport the walk. They have pledged R10 000 towards the project which is very generous and ensures that it will happen. Through discussions with Timm I have also decided to register at UCT with the PCU to make the project into a Masters Thesis in Botany. This is also very exciting and adds a new dimension and structure to the project.

Sponsorship from CASABIO

CASABIO is an NGO dedicated to the conservation of the earth's species. The concept is simple: you take photos of organisms you see and using easy and efficient software, give them a locality. The result: a collaborative database of species and their localities which can be used for conservation, education and research. CASABIO is run by David Gwynne-Evans who has kindly donated some funds to the N7 Road Reserve Walk!

About the Project

The N7 National Route is the primary road access to flower viewing destinations in Namaqualand and the West Coast. The road reserve along much of the route still supports patches of relatively undisturbed vegetation and during the spring months parts of it provide fine displays of wildflowers that no longer survive beyond the fence line in cultivated land.

In order to raise awareness about this important biodiversity corridor I will be walking from the Namibian border to Cape Town in the N7 road reserve. The aim is to map the rare and endangered plants found in the reserve and assess the condition of the vegetation at regular intervals on the entire route. This data will inform future management of the road reserve and through media attention will raise public awareness about the floral assets found in the road reserve. The walk is planned for August/September 2008.