Role of fire in preventing bush encroachment in the Eastern Cape

A serious bush encroachment problem has developed in the Eastern Cape and it has been suggested that this is partly the result of the elimination of regular, fierce veld fires. The author is of the opinion that it was rather the interaction of burning and wild browsing animals that played the major role in maintaining the original grasslands and preventing the encroachment of bush in the past. After a controlled burn had been applied to an area of dense, sweet grassveld, moderately encroached by Acacia karoo and other bush species, most of the bushes suffered a kill of stems and branches but coppiced from the base of the stem. Stocking lightly with goats controlled this coppice growth with no detrimental effect to the grass. These results indicate that a system of burning and browsing could be used in combating bush encroachment in certain situations.Keywords: sweetveld|goats|coppice growth|browsing|fires|bush encroachments|Eastern Cape Province|fire effects|browsers|grasslands|bushes|controlled burning