Local work, smarter land management and one less risk entering the gate
Some conservation projects begin with complex technology. This one begins with wood lying beside a road.
Since March 2021, the Thornybush Nature Reserve Wood Collection Project has employed local contractors to collect suitable wood from road shoulders and around lodge sites within the Reserve. The wood is then purchased by lodges on the Reserve for use as firewood.
It is a straightforward system with several connected benefits. It creates paid work, reduces local fuel loads, limits the need to bring outside firewood into the Reserve and cuts down on the plastic packaging associated with commercially bagged wood.
The project at a glance
- The project was launched in March 2021.
- It is led by Thornybush Nature Reserve.
- Local contractors collect wood from road shoulders and lodge surrounds.
- Lodges on the Reserve purchase the collected firewood.
- The work helps manage fuel loads near roads and infrastructure.
- Using local wood reduces the movement of outside timber into the Reserve.
- The project creates paid work and supports local economic activity.
- Cropwatch Africa monitors the project on behalf of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area.
Creating work during a difficult period
The project began during the disruption caused by the COVID pandemic, when people across the tourism and conservation sectors lost their jobs.
Thornybush Nature Reserve created paid work for former staff members and community-based contractors, who assisted the habitat team by collecting wood from designated areas. What began as an immediate employment response developed into a practical land-management initiative with lasting value.
Rather than treating cleared wood as waste, the project creates a local supply chain. Contractors collect and prepare the wood, while lodges on the Reserve provide a reliable market by purchasing it.
Managing fire risk where it matters
Fire is a natural and necessary part of a savanna ecosystem. However, accumulated woody material around roads, lodge sites and other infrastructure can increase local fuel loads and make access more difficult during a fire.
The project focuses on selected road shoulders and lodge surrounds rather than removing wood indiscriminately across the landscape. Clearing these priority areas supports the Reserve’s broader fire-management work while helping keep important access routes open.
Lodges also participate in clean-ups around their own sites, with contractors removing suitable wood that can be added to the local firewood supply.
Keeping outside pests outside
Using wood collected within the Reserve reduces the need to bring firewood across its boundary. This is important because transported wood can carry insects and pathogens into previously unaffected areas.
One concern is the polyphagous shot hole borer, commonly called PSHB. This invasive beetle bores into trees and introduces fungi that can interfere with the movement of water and nutrients, sometimes causing serious decline or death.
The movement of infested wood is a recognised pathway through which PSHB spreads. By reducing its reliance on outside firewood, Thornybush lowers the risk of accidentally introducing the beetle to the Reserve. It is a preventative measure rather than a guarantee, but in biosecurity, fewer pathways mean fewer opportunities for a pest to enter.
Less packaging and a shorter supply chain
Commercial firewood is often transported over considerable distances and sold in plastic packaging. Reserve-sourced wood removes much of that unnecessary journey.
The lodges receive a practical resource from within the Reserve, less plastic packaging is required and more of the economic value remains within the local area. It is a small operational change with benefits that reach across conservation, hospitality and employment.
Local oversight and wider monitoring
The project is overseen by a Hoedspruit-based team and monitored by Cropwatch Africa on behalf of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA)
Cropwatch Africa specialises in forestry and biosecurity monitoring, including field data collection, tree surveys, risk assessment and the monitoring of pest outbreaks. hyperlink to Cropwatch Africa
The GLTFCA is the larger cross-border conservation landscape connecting protected areas in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Its work recognises that ecological systems, invasive species and conservation challenges do not stop at reserve or national boundaries.
Where the Reserve and lodges work together
The distinction is important: Thornybush Nature Reserve leads the land-management project, while lodges on the Reserve support it by purchasing the wood and participating in appropriate clearing around their sites.
This creates a working relationship in which tourism helps sustain practical conservation. The wood used beside a lodge fire has already created paid work, reduced an unnecessary fuel load and avoided another delivery of packaged firewood entering the Reserve.
Nothing wasted. Several problems solved.
