SANS Parks Tokai MTB price increase

[DJR]

This is why I love the place - my view of the mountain on the way back home after my late afternoon ride!

[DJR]

This is the kind of thing SANParks MUST SORT OUT ASAP: Look at the size of this wattle that grew since the pine removal happened! NOTHING was done up to now and some of these wattles will be large enough to harvest before you know! Perhaps that is the plan? Conservation mandate? Ha! Prove it with your deeds SANParks! Even use some of the Mtb revenue for it and I won't complain. Just get the aliens cleared NOW!

[Flowta]

This is the kind of thing SANParks MUST SORT OUT ASAP: Look at the size of this wattle that grew since the pine removal happened! NOTHING was done up to now and some of these wattles will be large enough to harvest before you know! Perhaps that is the plan? Conservation mandate? Ha! Prove it with your deeds SANParks! Even use some of the Mtb revenue for it and I won't complain. Just get the aliens cleared NOW!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed.

 

I thought I was starting to go mad. Well a different mad. ????

 

What MTB revenue? Nothing from MTB gate takings or permits goes into the park at all.

[Guest Omega Man]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed.

 

I thought I was starting to go mad. Well a different mad.

 

What MTB revenue? Nothing from MTB gate takings or permits goes into the park at all.

I'm always amazed at Sanparks's double standards. A 5 year old pays R60 to ride a bicycle there. Not one cent of the R60 goes back to offset the supposed impact of the 5 year old. So it's actually just an access fee let's be honest.

 

Amazing how it always factors back to money hey?

 

The loggers however get to decimate the place with heavy machinery that piss hydraulic fluid all over the ground. Once the area is cleared it's left to "rehabilitate" into a wattle plantation.

 

I've been saying it for years and I'll say it again. Tokai is a microcosm of South Africa

 

- Crumbling infrastructure

- No maintenance

- Inept management

- Rising costs

- Double standards

- Those that allow themselves to be policed are policed into oblivion

 

I could go on.

 

They know full well that they have failed. Which is why they're over policing the one group who does comply. Mountain bikers. Kinda like the Metro Police targeting motorists. At least they know the fines will get paid............

[Freex]

I'm always amazed at Sanparks's double standards. A 5 year old pays R60 to ride a bicycle there. Not one cent of the R60 goes back to offset the supposed impact of the 5 year old. So it's actually just an access fee let's be honest.

 

Amazing how it always factors back to money hey?

 

The loggers however get to decimate the place with heavy machinery that piss hydraulic fluid all over the ground. Once the area is cleared it's left to "rehabilitate" into a wattle plantation.

 

I've been saying it for years and I'll say it again. Tokai is a microcosm of South Africa

 

- Crumbling infrastructure

- No maintenance

- Inept management

- Rising costs

- Double standards

- Those that allow themselves to be policed are policed into oblivion

 

I could go on.

 

They know full well that they have failed. Which is why they're over policing the one group who does comply. Mountain bikers. Kinda like the Metro Police targeting motorists. At least they know the fines will get paid............

 

You missed a point that I made with a previous post I made. 

Black wattle has more value than pine. It's braai wood. How much does a bag of braai wood cost these days? No need to pull out the saplings if you can let it mature a bit more, it will now becomes a good source of income. Now who said SANP were incompetent?

[deanbean]

You missed a point that I made with a previous post I made.

Black wattle has more value than pine. It's braai wood. How much does a bag of braai wood cost these days? No need to pull out the saplings if you can let it mature a bit more, it will now becomes a good source of income. Now who said SANP were incompetent?

and in the meantime the seedbank in the soil increases, a seed that can remain viable for about 80 years. Very shortsighted. This from a landowner with hectares of the stuff.

[Eddy Gordo]

Everybody buys wattle for firewood. So why not either let people come and collect their own firewood, however this will probably be catastrophic. The other option is to get guys in who will resell the wood etc, unless that is already happening

[Guest Omega Man]

You missed a point that I made with a previous post I made. 

Black wattle has more value than pine. It's braai wood. How much does a bag of braai wood cost these days? No need to pull out the saplings if you can let it mature a bit more, it will now becomes a good source of income. Now who said SANP were incompetent?

No I'm well aware of the revenue that comes from wattle.

 

It does fly somewhat in the face of their "conservation" mandate. 

 

Once again it all comes down to money doesn't it?

[Goosebay]

That is why we don't take much seriously from those "in the know".  If they are that serious about preserving or re-establishing possibly 'extinct' species, why let the wattle and other rubbish grow like that - where is the intent that they talk about so freely.

 

Mmm - got a good protest ride idea brewing

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Everybody buys wattle for firewood. So why not either let people come and collect their own firewood, however this will probably be catastrophic. The other option is to get guys in who will resell the wood etc, unless that is already happening

[Freex]

and in the meantime the seedbank in the soil increases, a seed that can remain viable for about 80 years. Very shortsighted. This from a landowner with hectares of the stuff.

Wattle spread thousands of seeds, so there is very little you can do about it although there is an induced disease that has been used it the past. Make the wattle trees look very ugly. 

[Guest Omega Man]

 

Everybody buys wattle for firewood. So why not either let people come and collect their own firewood, however this will probably be catastrophic. The other option is to get guys in who will resell the wood etc, unless that is already happening

 

This ^^^^^^^

 

There are wood cutters up and down that mountain all day every day with bakkies and chainsaws. To be fair they're doing more to get rid of alien vegetation that Sanparks is.

[Freex]

This ^^^^^^^

 

There are wood cutters up and down that mountain all day every day with bakkies and chainsaws. To be fair they're doing more to get rid of alien vegetation that Sanparks is.

What concerns me is that they cut the wattle down and leave it to dry out and then cut it up and cart it away to bag it. The problem leaving it around is a serious fire risk as it increases the intensity of the burn. 

[Guest Omega Man]

What concerns me is that they cut the wattle down and leave it to dry out and then cut it up and cart it away to bag it. The problem leaving it around is a serious fire risk as it increases the intensity of the burn. 

When I was a kid living in Kirstenhof there was a monstrous fire. It was HUGE!

 

I can vividly remember seeing the flames on the mountain. scary. It didn't look like a bush fire. To me it looked almost like a volcano.

[dirtypot]

When I was a kid living in Kirstenhof there was a monstrous fire. It was HUGE!

 

I can vividly remember seeing the flames on the mountain. scary. It didn't look like a bush fire. To me it looked almost like a volcano.

 

I also remember seeing that as a kid living in Kirstenhof.  The whole mountain was on fire - looked amazing at night!  I'll never forget those images!

[Headshot]

Tokai 2014-3 felling plan.pdf