CapeNature manages around 6% of the Western Cape, with the biggest area falling in mountainous areas, and runs various job creation programmes in partnership with other role-players.

The programmes provide work on islands, in provincial nature reserves, state forests, wilderness areas and privately owned mountain catchment areas.

CapeNature has projects aligned to the government’s EPWP job-creation initiative in 28 rural nature reserves and two urban reserves across the Western Cape.

The EPWP is currently in phase 4, targeting vulnerable groups from the poorest communities with the aim of appointing 60% women, 55% youth and 2% people with disabilities.

Under the EPWP alone, CapeNature administers over R28-million, providing more than 600 jobs a year.

Apart from administering the EPWP projects, other job creation programmes at CapeNature include:

· Integrated Catchment Management programmes

· Natural Resource Management – related to water, wetlands, etc

· Services projects (funded through board funding)

· Fire management

· People and Parks programme projects

Job opportunities include:

Fire and alien vegetation management, such as construction of firebreaks, basic fire fighting, block burns (preparation, execution and post fire patrols) and alien vegetation clearing

Management and maintenance of tourism infrastructure, such as roads maintenance, construction and maintenance of hiking trails, fence construction and maintenance, soil erosion control

Services, such as cleaning services and gate guarding services

Ecological infrastructure and natural assets creation, referring to naturally functioning ecosystems that deliver fresh water, climate regulation, soil formation and disaster risk reduction, and healthy mountain catchments, rivers, wetlands, coastal dunes, nodes and corridors of natural habitats

Notable achievements include:

• The removal and replacement of kilometers of fence, ensuring corridor connectivity in reserves such as the Knersvlakte Nature Reserve
• The clearing of alien plant species under harsh conditions, enabling integration of former private farm land into conservation areas and the free roaming of animals
• The construction of firebreaks and block burns, ensuring better fire management.
• The construction of hiking trails and maintenance of ecotourism facilities, increasing tourism revenue.
• A harmonised complex tourist-and-baboon relationship
• The improvement of the infrastructure in nature reserves. At Waterval, for example, a paving project not only improved aesthetics, but also helped develop paving skills
• A reduction in abalone poaching as a result of patrols in marine protected areas