Jonkershoek Valley - South Africa

The Jonkershoek Valley site is located in a mountain catchment in the Cape Floristic Region and is the source of the Eerste River. The site was originally dominated by Boland Granite fynbos and Kogelberg Sandstone fynbos with patches of afrotemperate forest. From the 1930s, first order catchment experiments were established in the valley by the Jonkershoek Forestry Research Centre (JFRC) under the auspices of the South African Forestry Research Institute (SAFRI). The catchments were sequentially planted to pine species. Gauged weirs were built in the experimental catchments. Long term records exist for five gauged pine planted catchments and one natural fynbos catchment. The Swartboskloof catchment, located in the Jonkershoek valley, was the site of fire experiments in the 1970s and 80s.