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A speck of hope in a fragmented landscape: the story of the Widenham Wetland Protected Environment

A speck of hope in a fragmented landscape: the story of the Widenham Wetland Protected Environment

 

A speck of hope in a fragmented landscape: the story of the Widenham Wetland Protected Environment

By Joshua Weeber, Threatened Amphibian Programme

Critically Endangered Pickersgill’ s Reed Frog

 

The Windenham Wetland Protected Environment on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast has formally been declared.

The story of this Protected Environment began almost a decade ago. In 2015 the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) initiated monitoring programmes for selected, critical wetland habitats supporting the Endangered frog Hyperolius pickersgilli (Pickersgill’ s Reed Frog) in the eThekwini Municipality. One of the selected wetlands was the ‘Widenham Wetland’ located in the suburb of Widenham, immediately south of the town of Umkomaas, approximately 45km south of Durban and within the eThekwini Municipality. The area is home to over 27,400 people with over 7,800 households of which 8.8% are informal dwellings. The site comprises of eight different erven and was acquired by the municipality in 2010 after a proposed residential development on the site was stopped because of the discovery of the then Critically Endangered Pickersgill’ s Reed Frog.

Widenham is a small (~1.6ha) channelled valley bottom wetland that comprises a mix of alien thicket / woodland and herbaceous marshland. It is located within the lower reaches of a small coastal stream system with relatively broad valley-bottom and a gentle longitudinal slope gradient and formed immediately upstream of the frontal dune system characteristic of coastal KZN.

Currently, much of the area within and around the Protected Environment has been transformed, and biennial wetland health assessments since 2015 show that the Present Ecological State (PES) of the wetland is classified as a D, which is Largely Modified. In short, Widenham Wetland represented a small, impacted system surrounded by urban infrastructure that was not a particularly intact state, but one that still provided habitat for a key endangered focal species for the EWT in the province.

In 2019 the EWT initiated actions to protect the Widenham wetland and drive long-term management and rehabilitation interventions that would safeguard this little natural space and the species within it for generations to come. A logical approach to achieve this goal was through Biodiversity Stewardship – an approach to securing land in biodiversity priority areas through entering into agreements with landowners with the intention of securing the biodiversity of South Africa. Fortunately, the wetland was purchased by the municipality, who were key partners in the project. A site assessment indicated that the area qualified for the Protected Environment category provided rehabilitation actions were developed and guided by a detailed Protected Area Management Plan. Working with key stakeholders such as eThekwini Municipality and Verdant Environmental, a detailed rehabilitation and management plan was developed.

Critically Endangered Pickersgill’ s Reed Frog

After many months of waiting, and assistance from our partners, Conservation Outcomes, the Widenham Wetland was finally gazetted as a Protected Environment on the 27th June 2024. The timing of this achievement has been crucial – the EWT’ s Threatened Amphibian Programme launched an exciting new project in early 2024 aimed at enhancing the ecological integrity of key wetland sites to improve local biodiversity and provide ecological goods and services to nearby communities. One of our priority sites linked to this project is Widenham Wetland, and efforts are already under way to improve the ecological functioning of this site through targeted alien vegetation clearing.

Working with the local municipality we are also in the process of implementing an extensive rehabilitation plan which will include redesigning a section of the wetland and revegetating impacted areas. All of these actions will be monitoring through wetland health assessments as well as passive acoustic monitoring of the isolated subpopulation of Pickersgill’ s Reed Frog that rely on this wetland. We hope our actions will safeguard this little speck of hope into the future.

This work has been in process for many years and would not have been possible without the efforts of Jeanne Tarrant and Cherise Acker, among many others. Similarly, our generous funders have been integral to this conservation success story. We thank Rainforest Trust, Synchronicity Earth, and Anglo American for their support.

A decade of frogging keeps us leaping for joy

A decade of frogging keeps us leaping for joy

A decade of frogging keeps us leaping for joy

Jeanne Tarrant, EWT Threatened Amphibian Programme Manager

In 2012, volunteer and Public Relations expert Carmen Curtayne and I wanted to do something to highlight both the importance of amphibians in South Africa and the severe threats they face. After much brainstorming, we devised the ‘Leap Day for Frogs’ campaign.

The idea was to create an annual national awareness day on 28 February – tying together the themes of Leap Year, leaping frogs, and taking a leap of faith (doing something demonstrable for frog conservation). We wanted to bring much-needed attention to frogs and their extinction threat. We also wanted to have fun in the name of frogs, encourage the public to get involved in science (citizen science), and celebrate South Africa’ s incredible variety of frog species. With almost half of the world’ s amphibian species experiencing some level of decline, bringing as much attention to frogs as possible has never been more important. South Africa is home to over 130 species – from the Giant Bullfrog (the size of a dinner plate!) to the Micro Frog (the size of your thumbnail), and all shapes and sizes in between. This enormous diversity is mirrored in the wide range of landscapes that frogs inhabit – from coastal wetlands to montane grasslands, gardens, forests, and even deserts.

Frogs are not just long-limbed, leapers. These water-loving amphibians play important roles in our ecosystems by feeding a wide array of other animals and eating vast quantities of insects – i.e. incredible free pest control! They are also important bio-indicators due to their sensitive skins and bi-phasic lifestyles. In other words, if they are around, our environment is healthy. These barometers of life are now the most threatened group of species on Earth, surely a sign of a planet in trouble.

To bring awareness to these very important and beautiful yet threatened creatures, we have devised annual themes over the past ten years for Leap Day for Frogs. 

Graphic showing ten years celebrating Leap Day for Frogs

Ten years celebrating Leap Day for Frogs

We celebrated the 10th Leap Day for Frogs this year, which coincides with EWT’ s 50th anniversary. As part of the latter, EWT will share a fun frog fact each Friday throughout the year.

Our theme this February was #CelebrateFrogs, and we reached over 3,000 people directly through over 15 events and outings, with over 165,000 people engaged through the social media campaign. Once again, we partnered with Kloof Conservancy and Iphithi Nature Reserve in Gillitts KZN, where over 150 people participated in various fun learning activities, despite very soggy conditions. We also gave lessons on the importance of wetlands to school learners based close to some project sites, receiving pledges from over 220 children to reduce impacts on frogs and freshwater. We also enjoyed a peaceful evening at the Mount Moreland wetlands, home to the Endangered Pickersgill’ s Reed Frog, with several nature lovers, and a talk and walk at Simbithi Eco-Estate. uShaka Marine World, Joburg Zoo and the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria hosted educational stands and activities over the weekend of 25 February, engaging over 1,800 people. Other events were held in Bloemfontein, Plettenberg Bay and Howick.

We’ ve designed social media filters and run citizen science observation projects, and in total, reached well over 16,000 people directly through events run either by the EWT or through several partnering organisations, including SANBI, uShaka SeaWorld, North-West University, various KZN Conservancies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein Botanical Garden and Johannesburg Zoo Amphibian Research Project. Occasionally, we have even had international events – from Wales to Zambia! Our online reach through social media exceeded hundreds of thousands of people and hopefully inspires the next generation of amphibian conservation biologists – or at the very least, highlights some simple behaviour changes that can benefit frogs and freshwater habitats.

Check out our Leap Day for Frogs page to catch up with your Froggie Facts!