From 08 – 09 May 2026, a group of 14 volunteers worked for over 6 hours, with the main objective of pushing back the pine tree invasion on the ridges above the MCSA hut on Cape Nature land. The target area covered various terrains, including steep mountain slopes, a river corridor, and a gently sloping fynbos ridge.
The hack team met at the Fisanterkraal parking at 17:00 on Friday afternoon. 5 people walked to the hut while the rest drove up to the parking near to the hut with all the gear. By 18:30 we were all safely in the hut with a communal supper kindly prepared by Fiona Anderson. A safety and strategy briefing was held before retiring for an early night’s sleep.
Because of rain and wind, expected to arrive in the early hours of Sunday morning, the hack was cut short by 1 day. We got going at 8:00 on Saturday morning and were working the slopes by 9. We split up into two groups. The chainsaw group of 5 persons worked the large pines on the steep, north-facing, slope while the rest tackled the smaller trees on the gentle sloping ridge on the north-western side of the 2.4 hectare block– see map, Figure 1.
The team sorted out over 6000 trees in 6 hours (a total of 84 man hours). Most of the large pines were not cut down but were “ringed” – a process similar to girdling/ring-barking.
Read the full – and fascinating – report here. Thanks to all the volunteers who joined!
