Abstract
The rich flora of the Cape Peninsula has evolved in the context of a complex mountainous topography formed over millennia by a range of geological processes, of a winter-rainfall summer-drought Mediterranean-type climate, and fire. The Peninsula’s fire regimes are shaped primarily by vegetation types and age, weather patterns and events, and the incidence of ignitions. Human interventions have influenced all of these. For centuries, vegetation cover has been destroyed, fragmented and transformed through the actions of hunter-gatherers, the development of livestock farming, agriculture, forestry and urban areas and infrastructure. Anthropogenic climate change has affected weather patterns, increasing the incidence of conditions conducive to fires. Humans have introduced new sources of ignitions progressively over the past 2000 years, with an unparalleled escalation over the course of the twentieth century. Part I traced some of the major environmental impacts of human settlement and land use from 1652 to 1900, and this chapter provides a framework for thinking about the impacts of urban development in the twentieth century.
Along the Twelve Apostles open veld festooned with various attractive indigenous species including watsonias has been destroyed by the building of hideous flats and houses. Milnerton, Blouberg [and] Camps Bay [have been] ruined by unsightly buildings. It would seem that this ‘progress’ and beauty … cannot live together.
G.P. Blake, ‘Peninsula’s Ugly Face’, Cape Times, 27 October 1971
The environmental lobby has been increasingly active and has kept us all very aware of the sensitivity with which our surroundings and heritage are to be treated. It is essential however that a balance be maintained between preservation and development …. I am sure my colleagues … will apply themselves … to ‘direct the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man; being that practical application of the most important principles of natural philosophy which has, in a considerable degree, realized the anticipations of Bacon, and changed the aspect and state of affairs in the whole world’.
D.G.D. Riley, City Engineer, City of Cape Town, 19891 (citing the English engineer Thomas Tredgold)
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Notes
D.G.D. Riley, 1989, ‘City Engineer’s Statement,’ Annual Report of the City Engineer (ARCE) for 1988/89, City of Cape Town, 1–2.
On the Peninsula’s geology, see D. MacPhee and M. de Wit, 2003, ‘How the Cape got its Shape,’ Map, 1st edition (Cape Town, South Africa: Map Studio/CIGCES/Department of Land Affairs). See also http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/geolsci/cape.htm, accessed on 28 October 2013.
For a detailed account of the Peninsula’s topography and geology, see R.M. Cowling, I.A.W. MacDonald, and M.T. Simmons, 1996, ‘The Cape Peninsula, South Africa: Physiographical, Biological and Historical Background to an Extraordinary Hot-Spot of Biodiversity,’ Biodiversity and Conservation, 5, 527–50.
Ibid., 536–44. For (contrasting) plant species numbers and endemism, see B.W. van Wilgen, 2012, ‘Evidence, Perceptions, and Trade-offs Associated with Invasive Alien Plant Control in the Table Mountain National Park, South Africa,’ Ecology and Society 17, 3;
A.G. Rebelo, P.M. Holmes, C. Dorse, and J. Wood, 2011, ‘Impacts of Urbanization in a Biodiversity Hotspot: Conservation Challenges in Metropolitan Cape Town,’ SAJB, 77, 20–35, 25.
L. Mucina, M.C. Rutherford, and L.W. Powrie, 2005, ‘Vegetation Map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland,’ 1:1,000,000 (Pretoria, South Africa: South African National Biodiversity Institute);
A.G. Rebelo, C. Boucher, N. Helme, L. Mucina, and M.C. Rutherford, 2006, ‘Fynbos Biome,’ in L. Mucina and M.C. Rutherford (eds.), The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (Pretoria, South Africa: South African National Biodiversity Institute), p.107.
Rebelo et al. ‘Fynbos Biome,’ p.82; G.G. Forsyth and B.W. van Wilgen, 2008, ‘The Recent Fire History of the Table Mountain National Park and its Implications for Fire Management,’ Koedoe, 50, 1, 3–9, 7;
A.G. Rebelo, P.M. Holmes, C. Dorse, and J. Wood, 2011, ‘Impacts of Urbanization in a Biodiversity Hotspot: Conservation Challenges in Metropolitan Cape Town,’ SAJB, 77, p.25.
A.H.W. Seydack, S.J. Bekker, and A.H. Marshall, 2007, ‘Shrubland Fire Regime Scenarios in the Swartberg Mountain Range, South Africa: Implications for Fire Management,’ International Journal of Wildland Fire, 16, 81–95.
On the fire history of the Cape of Good Hope section of the Peninsula, see R.F. Powell, 2013, ‘Long-term Vegetation Change in the Cape of Good Hope Section of Table Mountain National Park, in Response to Climate, Fire and Land Use’ (MSc thesis, University of Cape Town).
For Table Mountain National Park, see G.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, 4–9.
D. Southey, 2009, ‘Wildfire in the Cape Floristic Region: Exploring Vegetation and Weather as Drivers of Fire Frequency’ (MSc thesis, University of Cape Town).
On impounding livestock, see Cape of Good Hope, Reports of the Conservators of Forests (C.G.H.): C.G.H. 1902 G.55–1903, p.6; Minutes of His Worship the Mayor (henceforth MM), MM1901, MM1903, MM1923, p.x; MM1924, p.iii; MM1927, p.vi; MM1929, p.6; MM1932, p.3. On transport and electrification, see V. Bickford-Smith, E. Van Heyningen, and N. Worden, 2009, Cape Town in the Twentieth Century: An Illustrated Social History (Cape Town, South Africa: David Philip), p.63.
Regarding the Upper Gardens dairy, grass and Ericas, see C.A. Lückhoff, 1951, Table Mountain: Our National Heritage after Three Hundred Years (Cape Town, South Africa: A.A. Balkema), fig.50 for the dairy herd, and pp.56, 47. The map is ‘Cape Peninsula,’ Chief Directorate: Surveys and Mapping, Commemorative Reprints of First Map Series, 1:25,000 (first printed 1934, reprinted October 2000), Sheets I and II. Regarding impounded livestock: MM1940, Annual Report of the Director of Parks and Gardens (ARDPG) 32, 33; MM1943, ARDPG, 35; Cape Times, ‘Great Bush Fire on Mountain Slopes,’ 17 January 1944, front page.
W.T. Stead (ed.), 1902, The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes, with Elucidatory Notes, to which are Added Some Chapters Describing the political and Religious Ideas of the Testator (London: Review of Reviews Office), pp.13, 16.
K. Wall, 2008, ‘Water Supply: Reshaper of Cape Town’s Local Government a Century Ago,’ in J.E. van Zyl, A.A. Ilemobade, and H.H. Jacobs (eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Annual Water Distribution Systems Analysis Conference, WDSA2008, Kruger National Park, South Africa.
N. Worden, E. van Heyningen, and V. Bickford-Smith, 1998, Cape Town, the Making of a City: An Illustrated Social History (Cape Town, South Africa: David Philip), pp.162, 214;
Bickford-Smith et al., 2009, Cape Town in the Twentieth Century, pp.62, 67; C.G.H.1905 G.50–1906, pp.19, 26; Union of South Africa, ARFD 1931/32 U.G.37–1932, p.10.
V. Bickford-Smith, E. Van Heyningen, and N. Worden, 1999, Cape Town in the Twentieth Century: An Illustrated Social History (Cape Town, South Africa: David Philip), p.63; Cape Times, ‘Scenic Road on Mountain: Immediate Construction Contemplated to Provide Relief Work Jobs for Additional 350 Men,’ 9 February 1938, 13; Cape Times, ‘Ambitious Roads Scheme,’ 10 November 1943, 5.
S.S. Morris, 1958, ‘Keep Pace with Progress — Suggested Improvements to the University Education of Civil Engineers,’ Transactions of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers, 15, 374–77. For his biography: Ibid., ‘Our Authors,’ 244.
On the history of Hout Bay’s fishing industry, see L. van Sittert, 1988, ‘“Slawe van die Fabriek” — The State, Monopoly Capital and the Subjugation of Labour in the Hout Bay Valley Crayfish Fishing Industry, 1946–1956,’ Studies in the History of Cape Town, 6 (Cape Town, South Africa: Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town), pp.112–49.
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Pooley, S. (2014). Fire Geography and Urbanisation on the Cape Peninsula. In: Burning Table Mountain. Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137415448_6
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