Monitoring for Sustainable Indigenous Forests in the Garden Route National Park
The Garden Route National Park (GRNP) protects a mosaic of diverse terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine and marine ecosystems, landscapes and cultural heritagesites, and covers an area of about 157 000 ha. It straddles the border between the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces, lying between George and Kareedouw on the narrow coastal strip to the south of the crests of the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains. It includes scattered patches of indigenous forest of about 40500 ha in extent.
Management activities within the forests include the sustainable harvesting of forest products, the provision and maintenance of outdoor recreation opportunities and facilities, and invader plant control.
Part of the GRNP (41538 ha of State Forest land, including 35 765 ha of indigenous forests and 5 339 ha of associated fynbos, formerly known as the Farleigh, Diepwalle and Tsitsikamma Forest Estates) received international recognition for responsible management with the awarding of Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) certification (Licence code FSC-C019566) in December 2002, which has been retained since.
Monitoring for Sustainable Indigenous Forests in the Garden Route National Park