In This Issue:

Logical Winner

CTEET

Expressed

EE Stats

Outdoor

Classroom Day

Big Beach Clean

Youth Day at

Princess Vlei

Valhalla Park

Outreach

Bean There,

Filmed That

Green Teachers

Owl Say!

Conservation

Ablaze

Leap On

“Nature is all around you, absolutely fantastic.

Lessons learnt were not just for now but life long

lessons.” - Prince George Primary

EE Stats this Quarter Day Programmes: 31

Overnight Camps: 28

Number of Children Involved: 2834

Newsletter Vol. 12 | Apr - June 2018

THE QUARTERLY BUZZ

Logical Winners

The Eco-Logic Awards identify individuals, organisations and communities that positively contribute towards a sustainable world. The Enviropaedia established the Annual Eco-Logic Awards in 2011 and these Awards have since grown into South Africa’s most Glamorously Green eco-calendar event, receiving extensive TV, radio, print media and online coverage. This year, the Awards Gala was on World Environment Day, 5 June and CTEET was invited to attend. We were honoured to receive two awards on the evening! We were awarded Silver for our conservation work through the Nature Care Fund, but the highlight of the evening for us was winning the Eco-Community Award, for our Conservation Leadership Programme. It is wonderful to be awarded for our work with Cape Town’s youth and our Education and Training Manager, Louise, summed up the feeling by saying, “It is so special to be recognised in this way, these awards are such a stamp of approval. They are showing us that we are on the right track with our work and mission of changing lives through nature”.

CTEET Expressed Andrea Von Gunten was our TV star when she represented CTEET during an interview on SABC 3’s Expresso Morning Show! The theme of the interview was Urban Conservation, and Andrea spoke about CTEET’s Nature Care Fund and various conservation projects, and the work we are doing to conserve Cape Town’s Biodiversity. Andrea did a fantastic job represent-ing the organisation, highlighting the challenges of urban conservation and why it is important for each person to play a role in protecting the environ-ment. If you missed it, the full interview can be watched on Youtube: https://youtu.be/gy1gTZ7NdWE

Andrea during her interview.

Nicole Georgiou and Louise Matschke with Enviropaedia Publishing Editor, David Parry-Davies.

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Big Beach Clean The Village Heights Eco-Buddies took action for nature and got their hands dirty at the #BigBeachClean at Monwabishi Beach in Khayelitsha. The clean up was organised by Let’s Do It and JCI Cape Town, in partner-ship with Waves for Change. It was a beautiful morning to hit the beach and over 100 children and adults eagerly did their part to remove rubbish and litter from the beach. It was an honour to have Lewis Pugh, internationally acclaimed swimmer and activist join us for the event, along with

Miss Earth SA. The Eco-Buddies were amazed at the amount of single-use plastic collected, especially sucker-sticks and plastic straws! It really drove home how important it is for us to make small changes in our lives such as refusing straws and shopping bags to help protect our oceans. The day was a won-derful chance to take action, along-side a number of partners and similar-minded organisations.

Outdoor Classroom Day Outdoor learning improves children’s health, engages them with learning and leads to a greater connection with nature.

In order to celebrate International Outdoor Classroom Day on 17 May, CTEET teamed up with two Grade 6 classes from Observatory Junior in Cape Town and ran lessons in the school garden. The fun, interactive morning introduced the learners to different types of indigenous medic-inal plants showing them how these plants have been used throughout South Africa’s history to treat a number of ailments naturally. The learners enjoyed hearing how golden sage was the first plant to be used by the Dutch in the Cape and how it can soothe coughs and colds; how wild rosemary can help asthma;

and how the Helichrysum plant repels insects. The highlights of the programme were definitely tasting the sour fig and using it for insect bites, as well as trying out wild rosemary tea!

Many of the plants discussed in the lesson are already growing in the school garden, and it was wonderful to turn this garden into an outdoor classroom, to give the learners an opportunity to be inspired by nature.

Youth Day at Princess Vlei Youth were at the forefront at Princess Vlei on 16 June, in a collaborative project between the Princess Vlei Forum and CTEET. The surrounding community took time to give a little back by planting and expanding the Garden of Healing which was started by a CTEET supported Eco-School, Floreat Primary School. The youth from our Conservation Leadership Programme, Project 90 by 2030’s You Lead Programme, and the Leisure Education Trust assisted with laying the pathway and planting indigenous Dune Strandveld flora, in the design of a Fibonacci spiral to symbolise eternal life. The Dune Strandveld flora holds significant value for the Khoi and other South African groups, particularly for medicinal and spiritual uses. The space will allow the community to experience their natural and cultural heritage and will bring about awareness for rehabilitation of the degraded wetland and its surrounds.

The day end-

ed with a clean-up of debris and litter in the

area, bringing to light the UN World

Environment Day theme, “Beat Plastic

Pollution”.

Observatory Junior learners enjoying celebrating Outdoor Classroom Day and learning about medicinal plants.

Leah and Sheradon plant-ing in the Fibonacci Spiral .

Educator, Anwar Boonzaier, taking action against litter with the CLP learners.

Eco-Buddies with Lewis Pugh.

Straws and sucker sticks picked up!

Valhalla Park Outreach

Community uplift-ment was the name of the game when willing volunteers braved the wind and rain to help out some furry friends as well as educate our youth on environmental issues affecting Valhalla Park on the Cape Flats. CTEET and the Leisure Education Trust in collaboration with Valhalla Park Animal Welfare came together to show youth from the community the importance of a clean environment and what they can do to help keep Valhalla Park litter free. The children got their creative juices flowing by re-using materials such as tins, plastic bottles and used toilet paper rolls to make musical instruments like shakers and drums and old spoons to make tea-light candle holders. There were a few talented eco-warriors who took creativity and imagination to the next level and made upcycled dogs and cats! They were extremely proud of their achievements and went off with a certificate of participation as new eco-warriors.

Bean There, Filmed That The Gantouw Project eland enjoyed being in the spotlight during the recent filming done by Black Bean Productions for a video all about the project. Even with the challenges of the weather and working with the large animals, Black Bean was able to produce a wonderful video for us, showcasing all aspects of this very special project. Since the release of the video, a large amount of additional publicity around the project has been generated. Huge thanks to the whole team involved in putting the video together. The full video can be watched on the Gantouw Project webpage: http://cteet.co.za/the-gantouw-project/

Green Teachers This year the WESSA Eco-Schools programme is in full swing with CTEET supporting over 35

schools in the Southern Suburbs and Helderberg Region. The aim of the programme is to encourage young people to engage in their environment by allowing them the opportunity to actively protect it. It starts in the classroom where it expands to the school and eventually fosters change in the community at large. A Teacher Training Workshop was hosted by CTEET on 12 May, with over 30 teachers attending the day. The morning started off with an inspirational presentation by Jocelyn Anderson, the Eco-Schools Coordinator, on a local plastic-free School. This was a wonderful example of how to implement sustainable change within the school grounds. After the presentation the teachers broke into groups to brainstorm the new project themes and how to launch successful eco-projects. The workshop was held at the Westlake Conser-vation Centre, and after the presentations the group was shown around the indigenous plant rearing nursery and alien invasive species unit. The day ended off with a demonstration on how to make kokedama’s (hanging plant balls) followed by the chance for everyone to get their hands dirty while making their own version of the decorative plants. All the teachers went home excited about taking the Eco-Schools programme to the next level, with new ideas on how to introduce nature and environmental topics into their classrooms.

Filming in action!

Getting creative together!

Inspiration and fun with Teachers and CTEET staff members.

Owl Say! The team at the Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area (KRCA) is very excited about the first recorded sighting of a Spotted Eagle-Owl on site. Spotted Eagle-Owls are large grey owls, well adapted to living with people and found in towns and cities, as long as there are gardens and parks where they can hunt and find places to roost, undisturbed, during the day. The team at KRCA believes that this species would not be present at the site without the successful planned ecological burns that took place in the recent years. This owl find is a very good biological indicator of the success of their veld management activities. The site now looks in better condition, providing a variety of different aged patches for a diversity of flora and fauna such as small mammals, birds and reptiles which are known prey for the owls.

Conservation Ablaze In April an ecological burn was conducted at the Milnerton Racecourse Section of Table Bay Nature Reserve, a wonderful practical learning experience for staff members. Site Manager, Kyran Wright, explains the ecological purpose of the burn: This ecological burn was part of a greater restoration project. For the past year, the team at Milnerton has been collecting seeds and cuttings from the surrounding conservation area to aid the post-burn restoration process. The ecological burn was necessary to stimulate any existing seeds present in the degraded area. However, a complication in our plans arose due to the current water crisis with the City placing a moratorium on ecological burns. We had already collected a great amount of seeds and cuttings and not proceeding with the burn jeopardised the entire year’s work. We were able to motivate for an exception to the moratorium by promising not to use any potable water, and no water if possible. On the day, about 50 people assisted on the ground with the burn including; CTEET, City of Cape Town, Fire Services and Working on Fire staff. We were able to manually suppress the fire (so no water was used) however we were prepared for any possible flare-ups as we had water on site. The 1.9ha burn area was in the Southern area of the reserve. We have already sown the seeds into carefully selected research plots. We are excited to see what species pop up after the burn!

Find these stories & more on: ChangingLivesThroughNature

Spotted at Kenilworth Racecourse Conservation Area

The ecological burn on site. Credit: Charl van der Merwe

Leap On We are thrilled to have received a grant from Fondation Ensemble for the continuation of the Western Leopard Toad

Underpass Project. This grant, along with funding from the Leisure Charitable Trust, will enable the installation of four underpass test tunnels to prevent the deaths of Western Leopard Toads on our roads. We are very excited for this next stage of the project, and look forward to sharing the results of the test tunnels in the coming months. Huge thanks to all who are making this project possible. A local Western leopard toad