January Hack is on Sat 13th January - Everyone welcome. 
It will be weeding the seedlings so age is no barrier for the youngest or the oldest! See Notice Below

The Rooikrans weeding Competition CLOSING DATE is extended to Friday 12 January. 
To qualify for this competition a MINIMUM number of TEN bags since 13th December must have been handed in to the Village Shop by 1600 on 12th January, 2018.  The winner will be the highest number of bags handed in since the competition began  on 13 December and recorded by Wimpie Stals at the Shop and entered in his register       
 The prizes are:
1st                                                      R 200
2nd                                                     R 100
3rd                                                      R   60
4th                                                      R   40
 
IN ADDITION, with effect from Friday 29 December for every FOUR bags handed in the person concerned wins a voucher/goods to the value of R 10 from the Village Shop

Rooikrans weeding is really urgent due to the emergence of 1000s of seedlings.  The situation is chronic and we need to eliminate this scourge whilst we can before we are faced with forests of mature rooikrans trees.
The Hack therefore will be a WEEDING hack.  Details as follows:

• Date Saturday 13 January
• Venue- meet on Camp Road opposite Wonderlings B & B at 0800
• Bring light gloves & wear jeans and walking shoes/boots.
• Please bring friends and neighbours and as many children as you can
• The job is easy but time consuming and we need as many active helpers as we can get to really make an impression on this threat to our fynbos and the beauty of Rooiels.
• Tea will be from 1000 onwards.  The venue for the Hack tea will be announced later.  Any volunteers willing to host this tea please contact Kate Barker at her email address ([email protected])

There will be a sponsored Competition starts on Wednesday 13th December, 2017 until after Christmas.  All participants are asked to collect their bags from the Shop, give in their name and contact details.  

​For every bag stuffed with Rooikrans seedlings returned to the Shop - and recorded by Wimpie and/or Monique - the participant wins a Magnum ice cream. ​
To assist you all in deciding where to go to commence your weeding have a look at the following plots:

• Klein Rooiels
  • Erfs 12, 13, 17, 16,19,24,23, and the river frontage.
  • Also the public open areas of erf 10,11, 29 and 28
• And all along Porter Drive that was affected by the fire.

Unless these seedlings are removed whilst they are “easy pickings” we will be left with forests of rooikrans trees like we had 30 years ago.  They are a serious fire hazard and also crowd out our natural fynbos
As a direct result of the fire that swept through Rooiels on 19 March 2017 we are faced with a profusion of rooikrans seedlings that are sprouting in all areas affected by the fire.   Fire stimulates the seed bank of these Australian acacia invaders, destroys any other vegetation that might restrict their growth and provides nutrients to speed the growing process.  This coupled with the late rains last month have meant that Rooiels is faced with an exponential burst of rooikrans seedlings.  At the Hack on Saturday 2 December, 4 members of the hack team sat for almost two hours weeding a portion of an erf affected by this invasive growth.  They cleared less than a third of the erf despite having pulled up 1000s of seedlings.  The situation is dire- the Hack team CANNOT fight these invaders on their own and need HELP. 

COMPETITION TO FIGHT THE ALIEN INVADERS
A generous Rooielser has very kindly donated R 1000 which he has given to Wimpy Stals at the Village Shop.  Pick ‘n Pay at the Somerset Mall has donated 100’s of their small vegetable plastic bags.  Wimpie and Monique have volunteered to monitor the competition and assist wherever they can.

The Competition starts on Wednesday13th December.  All participants are asked to collect their bags from the Shop, give in their name and contact details. 

​For every bag stuffed with Rooikrans seedlings returned to the Shop and recorded by Wimpie and/or Monique the participant wins a Magnum ice cream.   

In addition the overall winner; i.e. the person who brings in the highest number of filled bags by 1200 on Saturday 30 December wins R 100.
Second prize will be R 50, third R 30 and 4th prize wins R 20 in addition to their Magnum ice cream.

There is no restriction on the age of participants although we would dearly like to see the children of Rooiels taking a full part in cleaning up the invasives!
Depending on the success of this first competition we may well do it again in January but for this we need new sponsors please. 

Pick ‘n Pay are very keen on the idea and will send out a PR team on Wednesday 13 December at 1200 to photograph the activity and record their sponsorship.
​
Please publicize this amongst all your family members and friends so that we have a good turnout of “weeders”.  Good luck with the competition!
 
Kind regards and a happy Festive Season to you all!
 
Dick Lockley
Convenor of the Rooiels Hacks
028 273 8852
083 454 3964
[email protected]



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 We invite the public to attend a three-part wildlife research talk series as a fundraiser for the Rooiels Conservancy! We are fundraising for new equipment for our leopard & otter camera trap project and our invasive plant hack program. The events are being held at the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden in Betty's Bay on July 8th, August 26th, and September 20th, 2017 at 6pm-7pm. Join us for a glass of wine and learn about some interesting wildlife research happening through UCT!

Rooiels Hack Notice 1st April 2017
The fire has exposed a lot of rubbish in Klein Rooiels running down into the river valley.This month we would like to try and clean up this area.

Bring a black bag / plastic shopping bags or heavy duty garden bags and
some gloves, there is a lot of glass so we will get some cardboard boxes
from the shop. Meet at the shop 8:00am, place the rubbish on the R44 for collection

08:00 Saturday 1 October 2016

Meet at Mark Butler's home, erf 124, Priestleya Rd

Equipment and herbicide is supplied

Refreshments:  10:00  at erf 231 (382) Ocean View Drive, home of Herbert and Gail Voigt

The Conservancy committee has held its first meeting of 2016. At this meeting there was much talk and enthusiasm around projects for the year. Some of the more pressing matters include the new website, communication with the community, trial amalgamation with the Rooiels Ratepayers' Association, liaison with municipal officials regarding plot clearing, recruitment of volunteers for the removal of alien invasive species (the hack group).