Tree Whisperer SA

This September the Aardwolf and @treewhisperersa teams conducted the annual Forest Restoration Monitoring for @greenpopsa restoration sites across the Garden Route, South Africa. We visited 3 sites across 3 project partners: A 1 year old site @wildspirit_backpackerslodge A 5 year old site at Heartland Forest and A 5 year old site @pachamama_za We gathered 100s of data points on tree growth rates, survival rates, vegetation cover and many other variables to continue our assessments of the success of these restoration projects. Our pioneers, the Keurboom (Virgilia oroboides), did exactly what they are adapted to do, and reached heights of over 15m in less than 5 year! This allows for our slower growing trees (Yellowwoods, Forest Elders, Cheese woods etc) to be well sheltered and given the right conditions to one day fill out the forest canopy when the Keurbooms have done their jobs. We look forward to continue monitoring these sites and others over the next 20years as they progress and regenerate areas previously inundated with invasive alien tree species. Although planting remains a great way to reintroduce species once present to degraded systems, we have seen how effective natural regeneration is at reclaiming these landscapes with just a little help from humans. Stay tuned for updates from our upcoming fieldwork in the Uilenkraal Valley where we will be monitoring some of our oldest forest restoration sites. The age of restoration is here. How will you get involved and active in protecting and rewilding landscapes and spaces?🌱🌳🦋🐢🦅 #forests #restoration #rewilding #data #monitoring

It is always a pleasure getting thousands of trees in the ground.
This year we have bypassed our record set in 2019 (my first RFF event).
7 years later and I am grateful to partner with Greenpop.

This planting day was smooth and one of my favorite memories. The 5000 trees placed on site were planted 2 hours into the day. Hundreds of people wanting more trees to plant, we formed a tree train, moving more than 3000 trees from the nursery to the top of the hill, more than 100meters. As each tree made its way to the end of the line, it got planted instantly. The hunger for trees did not end until we called it a day.

More than 8000trees before 1pm! 1000 people coming together to plant trees for a greener future. This is where my inspiration comes from.