This article, written by Doug Norval (who is not a member), has been reproduced with his permission.

It gives some nice perspective on trying to mitigate the reputation the 4x4 industry has amongst environmental concerns.

What you should know about conservation

Hi all,

After reading some of the posts on this and other forums I feel the need to discuss some concerns and related issues around 4x4’s and environmental/conservation projects. (posted onto other forums as well)

In general 4x4 drivers are not looked on favourably by most conservation authorities (and I broadly include quad bikes whose riders are considered even worse) Conservation groups are extremely hesitant to talk to us and allow or invite us to get involved with their projects. This is purely as a result of bad faith on the part of 4x4 clubs and associations who have previously been involved and, quite frankly, STUFFED IT UP. Also the Beach ban and the strict enforcement of the environmental laws now on the Wild Coast, Namibia and Angola are as a result of the actions of a few bad apples in our community.

I know of two 4x4 clubs who do/did fence patrols and both have had teams kicked out of the reserves due to bad behaviour of the people attending. Not once, not twice, but MANY times, one park is considering if it is actually worth the hassle at the moment the other has stopped them altogether.

When the 4x4Community approached FOPS (Friends of the Pilanesberg) to see if they could be of assistance it took just on 3 months just to get them together in a meeting, that’s how bad the anti 4x4 feeling was.

On the other hand, the Desert Lion Project of the Land Cruiser Club, The Vulture sponsorship at the Jeep Club, Work parties from the 4x4 Community and the initiatives from the AAWDC to engage with the Endangered Wildlife Trust amongst others, are working miracles in building and repairing these relationships. Also the NOW initiative has been a building block in all of these successful partnerships as it shows that we want to, and can be, responsible off road drivers.

There are a huge number of environmental/conservation projects all over Southern Africa (I’m limiting this to where we normally travel) and we have a huge number of 4x4 owners in this country and WE CAN AND WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE to some of these projects, yes, some of them. Unfortunately we cannot help everybody as much as we would like to and the next thing is that we need to give them the help where they need it, not where we think they need it.

With very few exceptions, and I’m not one of them, we are not scientists, experts in soil erosion, wetlands, animal husbandry etc, they, the conservation groups, are, and we need to let them get on with their jobs and give them the support that they need. Sometimes that support will be in the form of fund-raising, sometimes it will be equipment or logistics and backup vehicles, other times it might be blood, sweat & tears while building enclosures or doing much needed maintenance, alien vegetation control or anything else that is required. Please understand that I am not going to use fancy terms or scientific names here either as I want people to understand what I am saying.

The point is that our focus should be on approaching existing organisations, preferably those who have a national footprint, those who are registered and have a decent track record and pooling our resources to help them do their jobs more efficiently. This is not to say that we cannot help regional or local organisations, we must, but the focus must be the most good for the most return.

People also seriously misunderstand the processes etc involved in conservation/environmental work.

Very very often, the organisations tasked to do this work are hampered by the very laws they are trying to enforce, lack of funds, lack of staff, old & broken equipment and the list goes on.

Very often, the true conservation work is hampered by animal rightists who use emotion as a tool to drum up support for non-sustainable practices that ultimately become a drain on funding & staff that could be having a hugely profound effect in real terms on the issues at hand.

Also, when the conservation field workers are out in the field, away from base, communications, legal help etc, and due to the issues mentioned above, help and assistance from them is not always instantly available and due to the specific behavioural patterns of the various species, sometimes jobs have to wait for the right time to do them, regardless of the emotions raised.

When a person starts to understand that everything in nature is inter-related, then one starts seeing the issues at hand in a different light. One needs to understand the population dynamics of the various species, their home ranges and their territories, their food requirements and the carrying capacity of the land, the complete biodiversity of the area and, even more importantly, how the surplus animals in saturated populations survive and what happens when species populations or their habitat are interfered with.

Every species occupies a niche in nature and that niche is related to a particular type of habitat, so another worry is where an alien species which fulfils the same natural niche as one of our local species is introduced, as there is now direct competition for the same living environment.

So for example, Animal Exhibit A. In a completely natural (unfenced) environment, as the population grows in an area, some die, some live, ultimately, the population grows to point and then stabilises (100%) and surplus animals move off into the wilderness to find their own home range, some do, some don’t and some come back when the alpha male/female die off, but the population in that specific habitat is stable and ultimately so is the habitat/environment.

That same population in a fenced/limited area has hugely different dynamics as there is no natural moving off of surplus animals and so the habitat itself becomes stressed as the population exceeds its carrying capacity. The end result is a loss of vegetation, leading to a loss of soil, leading to degraded habitats for many other species and the Animal Exhibit A and then ultimately to a population crash and permanent damage to the environment & habitat.

So what do you do with the Animal Exhibit A population that are surplus? Relocate? At whose cost and to where, as they cannot just go anywhere and need lots of space. Do we hunt them and put that money back into conservation? Do we cull them and feed the local area human populations in the hope they won’t poach other animals?

Can we armchair conservationists really have an informed opinion and make such a decision? We know nothing of the actual issues on the ground. Realistically, we should be supporting the teams that are on the ground, maintaining those populations and become informed.

In terms of predator control, very simplistically, when you take one animal out, all you are doing is creating a vacant home range for another, and when you start taking species behavioural patterns into account, very often we are interfering badly in the natural scheme and ultimately cause a worse problem.

A huge problem in terms of conservation is the fact that animal rightist groups use emotion to drum up funding and support for issues. emotion is good, it gets people off their backsides, and gets them to pull out their wallets, but uninformed emotion is extremely bad. Most people find it easy to support Lion, Leopard, wild dog, elephant & rhino projects, ICONIC species and mostly apex species who are at the very top of the food chain and as such make up about 1% of the species in their habitat. Without looking at the big picture and ensuring the conservation of, and in this order, soil, water, plants and finally animals and right at the end, apex species, there will be nothing to protect.

The other side of the coin is the hugely emotional issues such as seals, rabbits, whales, dolphins, gorillas etc where there are some humaniod traits, big soft eyes, intelligence etc. We receive an emotional email, we believe it, we forward it on even if we are slightly suspect because it might help, just in case. Who actually goes and researches that info and makes an informed decision? Did you know that PETA arranged some and then faked other seal culling pics? It's all in the agenda of the organisation!

So in closing, Nature Conservation, while highly emotional, actually needs people to think reasonably, and to have the bigger picture kept in mind at all times. Any assistance offered to conservation groups, parks and reserves etc must be fully thought out, well disciplined, projects should be ring-fenced and have defined parameters, a clear understanding of who and what you are helping, and of what you are there to do. Without this, it is very easy for projects to collapse and destroy many years of relationship building.

If you want to get involved, then first think about how you want to get involved, do you want to be an honorary officer, do you want to be a guide, do you want to do maintenance, do you want to just donate some money or equipment, do you want to fetch & carry?

If you have specific projects that you would like to get involved with, do some research, find out about them, what do they do, how long have they been doing it, are they respected in their field, what help do they need and can you help them. Do they need help locally or nationally, do you need individual help or group help, do you need special training to be able to be of assistance (such as the training required before you may become an Honorary Officer at the North West Parks Board)?

Regards

Doug