A small planting on a South African farm in 1976 was meant to solve an immediate problem: stopping floodwater from washing away soil and threatening livestock. The spekboom cuttings survived, but their story did not end there. More than four decades later, the same hillside had become a valuable example of how degraded land can begin to recover. Other vegetation returned, wildlife followed and scientists found evidence of changes beneath the soil as well. The old planting would eventually help shape a much larger restoration experiment across the Eastern Cape, where millions of spekboom cuttings were tested as a way to rebuild damaged landscapes.
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