In celebration of Heritage Day, the Department of Library Services will be hosting the coordinator of the Champion Trees project and presenters from the Manie van der Schijff Botanical Garden.

Date: Friday, 18 September 2015

Time: 09:30–11:30

Venue: Auditorium, Level 3, Merensky 2 Library, Hatfield Campus

Exhibition: Indigenous plant propagation and cycad nursery, Manie van der Schijff Botanical Garden

RSVP for refreshment purposes to Una Mgwenya at [email protected] or 420 4291 by 17 September 2015.

Programme:

09:30–10:00: ‘The champion trees of South Africa’ by Izak van der Merwe

10:00–10:30: ‘We are the champions’ by Erna Liebenberg

10:30–11:00: ‘The living library of campus: resources for research and teaching’ by Jason Sampson and Philip Rousseau, Manie van der Schijff Botanical Garden, University of Pretoria

11:00–11:30: Questions and refreshments

Background of the champion trees project: The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) initiated a country-wide project to identify and protect trees worthy of special protection. Such projects have been established in several countries, but this is the first of its kind in Africa. Champion trees are trees of exceptional importance that deserve national protection because of their remarkable size, age, or value in terms of aesthetics, culture, history or tourism. Read more at http://www.daff.gov.za/daffweb3/Branches/Forestry-Natural-Resources-Management/Forestry-Regulation-Oversight/Sustainable-Forestry/Champion-Trees. Presenter and UP alumnus Izak van der Merwe is Assistant Director in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and initiated the Champion Trees project in 2014.

We are the champions is the first and only coffee-table book that showcases all 75 champion trees of South Africa (plus seven current nominees). It will be on sale at this event at a special price of R600. This full-colour book contains doublespread photographs of the entire trees, interspersed with smaller photographs of extraordinary features of the trees. It also contains stories, varying from fact to folklore and urban legend, about each champion tree, as well as the vital statistics of each tree. Links: www.championtrees.co.za and www.facebook.Com/treechampions