Conservation Projects

planet green ocean blue logo1Tree Planting

At the ORCA Foundation conserving our environment is of utmost importance to us. Planting a tree is one of the easiest ways to help the environment and help offset your carbon emissions. To make this even easier we are continuously germinating new indigenous trees for us to plant throughout the year. We then plant these indigenous trees in the community and surrounding areas, and encourage people to do the same to offset their carbon emissions. Check out our carbon calculator by clicking here!

Planting a tree is one of the easiest ways to help the environment and offset your carbon emissions. We assist the municipality in planting indigenous trees in the community and surrounding areas, and in so doing encourage others to do the same.

Marine debris Orca Foundation plettMarine Debris Clean Ups

We regularly hike along Plettenberg Bay’s beaches to clean up marine debris. Unfortunately we live in a world where people still dump rubbish from vessels, in rivers or on beaches. This often causes entanglement in marine animals. Tiny plastic particles (micro-plastics) are known to end up in the ocean food-chain. This project not only keeps our beaches clean and healthy, but also sets a good example for the community. We also use the opportunity to record our findings, which gives us indications of where the garbage is coming from and where it appears most frequently. In addition, when Plett experiences bad weather conditions, ORCA sets out to survey local beaches for marine animal carcasses washed ashore

Alein Clearing Orca Foundation plett

Alien Tree Clearing

One of the ORCA Foundation’s goals is to remove as many alien plant species as possible from the Plettenberg Bay area. These species are not compatible with our forests and are known to use a lot more water resources than our indigenous plants. South Africa is short of rainfall and this inevitably leads to rivers drying out and biodiversity declining. In conjunction with other local organizations we often head out into the surrounding areas to help remove these species – sometimes removing as many as 300 trees in a day.

 

 

MiniSass ORCA Foundation ORCA FoundationRiver Health Evaluation

As part of a citizen science project we perform mini-SASS river health assessments at various sites along the Bitou River. In order to complete an evaluation the river needs to be sampled for micro-invertebrates. Species are identified and scored on a matrix according to their sensitivity to disturbance. Results will allow management authorities to identify early warning signs of decreasing river health due to various potential sources of pollution.

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