4. CONTRIBUTIONS AND APPLICATIONS OF THE DATA
The catchments have been instrumental in the development of South Africa’s hydrological and ecological research, and have provided the evidence base for much of the country’s water, forestry and environmental policy. In particular, the data from the catchments has contributed to the understanding of the impacts of afforestation on water yield (e.g. Nänni, 1970a, b; Bosch 1979; van der Zel, 1995, Scott & Smith, 1997) hydrological model development (Schulze, 1976; Schulze, 1995) and understanding the impacts of fire on streamflow (Nänni, 1960; Bosch et al ., 1984; Van Wyk, 1986). The historical data collected for the site was consistent and of high quality until 1985 when funding for the monitoring became constrained. Due to the data gap between 1991 and 2012 and the short record since monitoring resumed, no trend analysis has been undertaken. However, the monthly rainfall and streamflow records expressed as an anomaly from the monthly means of the historical period (1951 – 1980) indicate that the contemporary period has been drier than the historical records (Figure 2). The 2018/2019 summer was one of the driest summers on record for Mike’s Pass meteorological station.