Dutch National Parks on the way up again

article issue by Hans Schiphorst, coordinator of the Samenwerkingsverband Nationale Parken

Dutch National Parks on the way up again

The Dutch National Parks faced a difficult period over the last couple of years. It was the result of an unclear situation regarding the position of national parks in Dutch nature policies: a lot of these policies were decentralized from Central Government to Provincial Government, but the position of National Parks was unclear.

It resulted in a confusing situation regarding governance and finance of the National Parks. Due to an amendment in Parliament, calling upon the minister to safeguard and rejuvenate National Park policies, we are on the way up again. Not all is sorted yet, but

there is a positive movement again, resulting in a new National Park standard and in designating the Netherlands 21th and newest National Park, called Nieuw Land National Park.

The Nieuw Land National Park (New Land National Park)

With a total of almost 29.000 hectares, it is one of the biggest National Parks in the Netherlands. The Nieuw Land National park is situated in the middle of the country, in and around the big central lake in the Netherlands “IJsselmeer and Markeermeer”, the former “Zuiderzee”. In the nineteen forties of the last century, a big floodwall was build in the north of the country, changing the salt water Zuiderzee into the freshwater IJsselmeer.

Part of IJsselmeer and Markermeer was subsequently converted into big polders, some 4 meters below the water table. A part of these polders was never converted into arable land or used for building houses as almost overnight an area with great ecological qualities emerged: the Oostvaardersplassen, internationally recognized for its waterfowl and huge numbers of big grazers like Heck cattle, Red Deer and Konik horses. This part of the National Park is about 6000 hectares.

Man & Nature

A second part of the National Park is the “Marker Wadden”. It is a newly created area of sandplates, roughly 10.000 hectares. These sandplates are created in order to stimulate the ecological qualities in this part of the Markermeer.

The rest of the National Park consists of a part of the Markermeer and the Lepelaarsplassen, the latter area mainly consists of reedbeds and wet grasslands known for its spoonbills (Lepelaar in Dutch) and other waterfowl and marsh birds. A haven for hundreds of bird species.

The Nieuw Land National Park is not only the Netherlands newest and latest National Park, but also an example of man-made nature where you will also find the remains of former occupation by the Romans and interesting naval-history and – archeology.

Check out what you can do & see in the Park. All information available at https://www.nationaalparknieuwland.nl