On behalf of the Landmark Foundation, a conservation NGO operational in our area, we wish to object to a “music” festival being planned in the Stormvlei area, namely the Vortex  Festival 12-16 December 2019. We suggest the festival is conflicting with the agricultural, rural, nature tourism and conservation land uses of the area. The Landmark Foundation have worked alongside various farmers in the area on the leopard conservation in the specific area of Stormsvlei which has proven vital to leopard habitat protection. This festival is a risk to the identified leopard corridor in the area.

While obvious risks in terms of noise, fire risk, river contamination and the number of people and vehicles in the region may negatively impact on the many other traditional land uses, occupants and current landowners, our objection is the impact this kind of activity is likely to have on the leopards of the region. Our objection is thus in the main focused on conservation issues. Leopards are at risk in the region and cumulative risks like this kind of activity will add to the already perilous state of leopard conservation. The Riversonderend river corridor and surrounding areas is key to the functional leopard connectivity corridor between the Riverviersonderend Mountain population and that of the Langeberg over the Drew identified corridor. Such connectivity is key to the species continued existence which is perilously under threat.

 The reality is that a maximum of 500 leopards remain in the Western Cape. This population is showing genetic bottlenecking due to habitat fragmentation, particularly in the Western Cape and specifically the Overberg. This is what this objection is about as the activities that is being proposed is exactly how this fragmentation occurs, in fact death of the species by a thousand different defeats such as this kind of inappropriate land use. We appeal to you for help to resist this bad proposal and to reject this departure form the land use of the area and this or any kind of festival of this sort altogether. 

The fact that  this site crosses one of only 3 available and effectively remaining North-South genetic connectivity corridors for leopards in Western Cape Cape Fold mountains is of grave concern to our organisation that has been working on research in this area. This key link between the Riviersonderend Mountains and the Langeberg  has 3 opportunities for connectivity between genetically isolated populations (Boland Mountains in the West, the “McGregor – Rooiberg corridor and this the “Stormsvlei-Langeberg” corridor). This proposed event will effectively introduce a blockage and impact on this latter corridor, even if over a specific time. There is probably only a small meta-population of 20 individuals in the Riviersonderend mountains and their genetic viability is dependent on functional genetic corridors.

The current data demonstrates that there is probably a maximum of 500 territorially dominant leopards left in the Cape Fold Mountains and surrounds (stretching from the Northern Cape, through the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape). This population is broken into smaller (less than 50 individual) human induced isolated meta-populations. The destruction of any actual or potential genetic connectivity corridors such as at this site will be a death knell to this species in the region where they are critically endangered. We are currently busy with a university registered study investigating conflict leopards, corridors and genetic isolation, and are busy with the study in the Stormsvlei area. We are deeply concerned by the application to hold this event in the area that will affect leopard movements.

In the light of these issues, we believe it an ethical duty and incumbent upon the municipality to disallow the activities that is proposed for the site.