EROSION AND GRASS:

JULY 12 2010:
SPRINGBOK FLATS:

Today we went to the Springbok Flats with Cobus and the Second years. We went out, so that they can teach us to do a basic field assessment. They told us about the scores of the different grasses. So the more valuable the grass is, the more points it scores. The most scores that a grass can get is 10/10. There are different sections that they measure the ''goodness'' of the grasses - their succession stages, nutritional value, their ecological factors and a couple of other things.

So we started out. First they divided us up into three groups. Each group had to walk in a different direction. We had to count our steps as we go. Every tenth step we had to check what type of grass grew there. This was to examine what type of grasses grew in the Springbok Flats, so that we can be aware of how nourished the plane is where most of our animals feed from.

Our end results were, that there is primarily Foxtail Buffalo Grass. Which means that the Flats are full of good nutritional grasses, but currently it is over grazed. Foxtail Buffalo grass Has really good score, it has a 10/10 score. It is a Climax grass, very nutritious and a good topsoil erosion preventer.

and that was our Grass count.