African Wildlife & Environment Issue 77 FINAL ISSUE

IN MEMORIAM

projects being donga reclamation and a guide training programme. Bergwatch was key to the formation of the Timberwatch Coalition in 1995, as one of the main reasons for forming Bergwatch was concern over the impact of industrial tree plantations on ecosystems, water sources and communities. Keith was a founder member of Timberwatch and the coalition included: Earthlife Africa, Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), Botanical Society of South Africa, Bergwatch, Zululand Environmental Alliance (Zeal), Wilderness Foundation, and representatives of the Mountain Club of South Africa. Keith and his wife Mae played a pivotal role until their retirement, with Keith appointed chair several times and Mae acting as treasurer. Keith was dedicated to nurturing new conservationists and would regularly organise field trips to grasslands and other threatened areas in his famous WESSA kombi. Together with Harald Witt, he also represented Timberwatch on the KZN SFRA-LAAC (Stream Flow Reduction Activity Licence-Assessment Advisory Committee) for a number of years, while site visits were attended by Bob de Laborde who prepared reports giving reasons, where applicable, as to why Timberwatch opposed a new plantation licence application. It would be impossible to list all Keith’s achievements and the huge contribution he has made to conservation in South Africa. He put a stop to illegal beach cottages in Pondoland on the Wild Coast, lobbied for land in the Hluhluwe- Imfolozi Corridor to be incorporated into two nature reserves, and started Bergwatch to monitor our mountain heritage. He helped many communities maintain their indigenous areas and worked tirelessly for the preservation of the wetlands, grasslands, catchment areas, mountains and forests which form the basis of our vital ‘water factories’. In his eighties he continued to be active and in the past few years, had been involved in the restoration of forests in Karkloof, where a 15-hectare pine plantation was felled and replaced with indigenous trees. With the land returning to its natural state, creatures including the Cape Parrot, Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon, and dwarf chameleon have been returning. Indefatigable to the end, Keith was about to embark on a new project in Karkloof.

Keith Cooper was born and raised in Pietermaritzburg. Although his training was in finance and administration, nature and conservation were his passion and eventually became his career in which he was greatly encouraged by Ian Garland, Roddy Ward and Hugh Nicholson. His hero growing up was Dr Ian Player, whom he first met when he was eleven. He started working in conservation in 1961 as an administrator at the Oceanographic Research Institute in Durban. He then joined the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (WESSA) in 1972 where he served as the National Director of Conservation for thirty years. During this period, he established numerous conservancies, nature reserves and protected areas around the country, and helped communities adjacent to conservation areas develop eco- tourism and associated conservation projects. He began collecting plants and developed a keen interest in flowering plants (particularly those with medicinal value) as a result of undertaking a survey of forests in what was then Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal and Transkei. After retiring, he continued his involvement in various projects as an associate of WESSA and worked closely with Rob Scott-Shaw of Ezemvelo- KZNWildlife on a botanical survey of the Mbona Private Nature Reserve. His main scientific contributions were the authoring of two forest surveys: The Conservation Status of Indigenous Forests in Transvaal, Natal and O.F.S., South Africa (1985) and Transkei Forest Survey (1992); numerous WESSA field reports; and the editing of Studies on the Ecology of Maputaland (1980). Keith was also chairman of the Flora Publications Trust – now the Flora & Fauna Publications Trust – for ten years, from 1998 to 2008. In recognition of his scientific and conservation work in preserving South Africa's biodiversity, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2003 and was presented with a special 90th Anniversary Gold Medal Award by WESSA in 2016. Perhaps the best way to appreciate Keith’s extensive efforts to defend the environment and help communities protect the nature that sustains them, is through the many tributes and memories being shared by those who knew him personally. In his quiet, unassuming way he was an outstanding natural scientist, dedicated teacher and true humanitarian who touched

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