Fairview has recently achieved champion status under the Biodiversity in Wine Initiative.
The BWI is a partnership between the South African wine industry and the conservation sector. The initiative aims to protect and conserve the existing natural habitats within the Cape winelands. The Western Cape is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth and in addition to their vineyards many wine farms include large tracts of unspoilt indigenous vegetation. The BWI aims to protect these areas with the co-operation of the land owners and wine producers. This initiative has proved hugely successful to date, and a large number of producers are participating.
Under the BWI agreement, Fairview has committed to continued eradication of alien vegetation, prevention of erosion, an annual plant census, fire break maintenance prevention measures and annual fixed point photography to track the development of vegetation.
Over the past few years, Fairview has engaged in an aggressive program to remove alien vegetation from the farm. The Fairview property borders a nature reserve on the top of Paarl mountain and with assistance from the Department of Agriculture the farm managemet team have cleared large areas of pine trees and blue gums. These areas require constant maintenance to prevent regrowth and this hard work as started to pay off in the last two years with natural vegetation returning.
The fires during the 2009 harvest also burned through areas of pine and blue gum, which assisted to a degree.
A large grove of blue gums has also been removed on the lower part of the farm. These trees, as well as pines, are massive consumers of water and in a fairly dry region like Paarl this has a large impact. Incredibly, during the last 18 months small streams that have been dry for as long as owner Charles Back can recall, have begun to flow again. The only thing that this can be attributed to is the removal of these thirsty aliens. This small event is a huge encouragement for those who have been putting in all the hard work.
Find out more about the Biodiversity in Wine Initiative by visiting their website. Look out for the BWI emblem on bottles of wine and check back here to find out more as the project develops further at Fairview.
