Basket-making fromSecamoneclimbers in the Northern Province forests: Can it be sustained?

SYNOPSIS The paper describes the measures taken to try to understand the impact the harvesting of lianes, Secamone gerrardii and Secamone alpinii, has on montane-forests in the Tzaneen area. Based on these findings an interim decision needs to be taken on whether harvesting at present rates should continue or not. Nine monitoring plots have been laid out in two forests in the area. The purpose of these plots was: firstly, to determine how many baskets could be made per hectare of forest; secondly, to describe immediate damage to the forest from harvesting; thirdly, to measure diameter growth rates and to monitor coppice regeneration.