Module 2
THE ECOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE MELVILLE KOPPIES NATURE RESERVE
Although Melville Koppies is a tiny reserve in the heart of a city, it presents an extraordinary variety of
habitats generated by its topology and geology. Consisting of three east-west quartzite, fissured, ridges,
dipping southwards, separated by shallow shale-based valleys and all resting on ancient granite and
greenstone it has an interesting wlidlife that has survived the vicissitudes of its history.
There are specific fauna and flora communities associated with the different habitats,- (1) the ridge
summits, (2) the thin acid soils on the exposed southern slopes, (3) the deeper and slightly less acid soils of
the more sheltered intervening valleys, (4) the sandy, wetter, but well-drained alluvial soils in the
southward oriented valleys in geological faults, (5) the warmer, drier, rocky, quartzite-based soils on the
talus below the northernmost ridges, (6) the drainage basins in northern-oriented faults, and further out the
richer granite-based soils of the northern slopes and even here there is a perceptible difference between the
communities on (7) ancient granite and on (8) greenstone-based soils, (9) a riverine community along the
Westdene Spruit and finally (10) a moist bush above the Old Road.
These natural differences have been compounded by man. As there is little iron in the Melville Koppies
rocks, there must have been extensive woodland (possibly similar to that on the southern slopes of the
Magaliesberg and the intervening Bankenveld) on the northern slopes of the ridge, along the Westdene and
Braamfontein Spruits and in the valleys of Melville to have attracted an extensive Iron Age industry. The
iron makers would probably have taken out all the large trees as appears to have happened around the Great
Lakes centuries before.This process would have continued through grazing, burning and the gathering of
firewood and plants for gardens or muti when the area was a farm and later when it was simply open space.
Even since it has been protected different parts have been subjected to varied frequencies of burning.
Man has a long history of contact with the area. Up to 1000 years ago the reserve was a camping ground
for San family groups. They were displaced by permanent settlements of Iron Age farmers needing fresh
pasture for their cattle and wood for their furnaces. At the beginning of the 19 th century the area was visited
with increasing frequency by hunter/explorers who have left descriptions of the herds of elephants and
other game on the rolling grasslands stretching to the north. In the 1860’s Melville Koppies became
farmland and in the 1880’s was prospected for gold
The encircling of Melville Koppies began early in the 1900’s when the southern and and eastern parts of
the farm-now Melville and Greenside- became small-holdings. Melville became a township in 1900 ,
Greenside in 1937 Emmarentia in 1939 and Emmarentia Extention which included the most eastern part of
the ridge, in 1945.The City Council bought what was left of the the western half of the farm in 1932.In the
1960’s the Linden Road which bisected the ridge was replaced in the 1960’s by the larger and very busy
D.F.Malan Drive, the kloof through which runs the Westdene Spruit was extensively damaged by the
laying of sewage and stormwater drains and an adjacent wetland was filled in to make a sportsfield for
RAU.
For 30 years the ridge was completely neglected. It was pillaged for firewood, stone, soil and plants, used
for dumping, the wildlife was poached or hunted by cats and dogs and alien plants were allowed to
establish themselves. Older Melville residents rember dassies and a troop of baboons on the ridge and
vultures on Northcliff, all of which have long disappeared. Aerial photographs of the ridge in 1960 show
only a sprinkling of bush along the ridge.
In 1959 the part of the ridge between Emmarentia township and D.F.Malan Drive was proclaimed a nature
reserve. It was fenced, policed by security guards, provided with 2 waterpoints, paths, and essential
buildings by the Council. The Johannesburg Council for Natural History, formed to advise the Council, had
inventories made of the fauna and flora, removed alien vegetation, constructed a nature trail, published a
handbook for it and encouraged publications on the reserve. Management policy was the preservation of
the ridge, fires were as far as possible excluded and entry was restricted.After some 25 years the Council
found it increasinglydifficult to fund the maintenance of its nature reserves. The guards were withdrawn
and another period of neglect followed. In 1992 the Council asked local communities to take over the
management of its nature reserves and the present management committee was formed. This is reelected
annually at a public meeting. Current management policy is to make the reserve as useful to the community
as far as is possible without affecting the intrinsic nature of the reserve and to develop community support
to the point where it does not need Council funding. Policy changes were ;-(a) as the exclusion of fire had
led to bush encroachment planned veld-burning was started, and (b) to increase awareness of Melville
Koppies , entry, although still restricted, was made easier, Open Days were increased to 3 and widely
publicised. Another change was the addition of the still undeveloped parts of the ridge east and west to the
nature reserve . In their case entry has remained unrestricted even though it results in frequent unplanned
fires and damage and littering by vagrants.
Since the 1950’s the ridge has been increasingly isolated from open country. The only immigration
corridor left is along the Braamfontein Spruit which is steadily becoming longer and narrower. as Sandton
develops northwards. An even more serious barrier is the replacement of suburban gardens by high density
housing surrounded by high walls. Thus replenishment is becoming increasingly difficult for creatures that
cannot fly or pass undetected through suburban gardens and a population collapse of any species can mean
extinction within the reserve. On the other hand the afforestation of the northern suburbs has facilitated the
immigration of other kinds of forest and bush wildlife which has produced a change in the population
composition of the reserve,patricularly of the birdlife. The flora has also been affected by encirclement by
suburban gardens. The seeds of alien plants are constantly introduced by birds and wind and dumping and
pose a very serious threat to the indigenous vegetation. Other detrimental effects of contact with man are
the destruction caused by vagrants camping in the reserve, vandalism, littering and erosion on heavily used
paths..
Fire has had an important role in shaping Melville Koppies. For thousands of years the northern grassland
of the Closed Section as part of the highveld grassland would have experienced lightning generated fires
that would have burnt up to the forest margins. The Iron Age farmers who arrived 1000 years ago burnt the
dry grass annually to bring on fresh green grass for their cattle and the felling of the forests by the iron
makers. brought grassland still closer to the ridges, a practice that was continued by the later white farmers.
As the city grew fires in the northern grassland became rarer then virtually ceased. Now a small part is
burnt every 4 or 5 years as part of a planned programme to preserve biodiversity. This is not the case in the
grassland on the southern sides of the ridges as the LGVS, being open to the public, is a source of fires
caused by carelessnes or vandalism. These fires burn across the back of the reserve sometimes as far as D F
Malan Drive.They seldom burn into the bush on the northern slopes due to the updraught behind the steep
rock faces. The part of the ridge west of D F Malan Drive has again a different experience as it is burnt
from end to end every year by carelessnes, vandals or deliberately and fires started on the northern slopes
burn up into the bush which is noticeably thinner than that in the Closed Section.