FOSTER  was established some 35 years ago and manages the Irma Booysen, Seal Bay, Seal Point and Cape St Francis Nature Reserves. These offer a range of hiking trails – along rocky shores, beaches, and salt-stunted vegetation to dune fynbos, thickets, and small patches of true dune forests.

A brief history:

• Mid 1980s: the Friends group started under the leadership of Gwen and Henry Brown and Richard and Shirley Cowling.
• Late 1980s: Dave Bowmer initiated alien clearance in the Irma Booysen reserve.
• Mid 1990s: Lawrence Kruger and Richard Cowling produced a report to guide the establishment of the St Francis Coastal Open Space System (SCOSS), an interlinked system of conservation-worthy state land in the Greater St Francis region. This initiative was championed by Des Green and has remained the FOSTER blueprint since then.
• 2000s: Extensive alien plant clearance was generously sponsored by WWF, and trail establishment and signage was implemented by Dave Bowmer and his team. Much progress has been made in proclaiming the reserves in the past five years, thanks to the superb effort of Wentzel Coetzer of Conservation Outcomes

The customary role of Friends groups is to provide support to the responsible statutory authority. In the case of the different nature areas, the responsible bodies are the Kouga Municipality, the Eastern Cape Department of Development, Economic Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) and/or Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism (ECPT), and Transnet.  Currently none are willing or able to provide the necessary support for the management of the reserves.

Vision
To conserve, maintain, protect, and provide access to the biodiversity of the FOSTER–managed nature areas, whilst promoting active stewardship of the environment and heritage.

Mission
FOSTER’s primary role is to nurture (foster) and preserve the biodiversity in the Irma Booysen, Seal Point, Seal Bay and Cape St Francis Nature Areas. Its secondary role is to ensure that the nature areas are accessible to the greater community and visitors.

FOSTER aims to achieve this mission through the following:

• The nature areas will be proclaimed and legally protected.
• The trails will be properly maintained, with interpretative features, i.e. mapping and signage.
• Clearing to remove seed-bearing alien woody plants in the nature areas.
• Our membership numbers will support our annual maintenance costs. Other funding will be sourced for ad hoc projects through appeals and events.

The nature areas management includes:

• Trail maintenance & management – erosion control, clearing of paths & erecting signage
• The control of alien vegetation to reduce fire risks
• Restoration of biodiversity by managing bietou overgrowth
• Management & maintenance of fire breaks around the village
• Monitoring of animal movements & numbers through a system of trail cameras
• Marketing & public awareness campaigns about the importance of these areas of critical biodiversity
• Liaising with authorities

How do we fund our reserve management program?

The only source of funding for FOSTER is through the contributions made by residents, property owners and conservation-minded people and by fundraising events and talks arranged by FOSTER.

Operational costs are about R500 000 per annum.