The Wijboschbroek, a nature reserve near Schijndel, is very dependent on water, a lot of water. Due to desiccation, the ‘Wet Natural Pearl’, as the area is also called, is under pressure. The Aa en Maas Water Board, Staatsbosbeheer and the province have therefore joined forces to make the nature reserve future-proof again. To achieve this, an enormous amount of soil has already been excavated.
“It is a huge area,” says Ernest de Groot, board member of the Aa en Maas Water Board. He walks through the forest with boots on. The slop of the wet ground under his feet sounds like music to his ears. Although that is no longer so obvious: “We are here in the Wet Natural Pearl, which means that it is a wet nature reserve. But the area has dried out.”
Wijboschbroek has traditionally been a loam forest. According to De Groot, the soil, with a lot of loam, should be naturally wet and rich in nutrients: “We are trying to restore this. “The entire Wijboschbroek area covers a total of about 550 hectares. The eastern part has already been tackled once. Now it is the turn of the center of the area. A huge area.”
The large-scale project should ensure less drought and more biodiversity. “We try to develop new nature, we take anti-drying measures, the banks of ditches are filled in or made shallower and banks are made more nature-friendly.”
In the middle of the forest near the Steegsche Loop, a stream that runs straight through the nature reserve, work is underway on one of the measures. “Here, the bottom of the stream has been made shallower. This ensures that less water from the surrounding ground quickly drains into it. This means it stays wet longer,” explains project leader Sjoerd Oomen.
In addition, an excavator is removing soil from a plot near the stream. “The top layer is excavated because it is very rich in nutrients. By impoverishing the soil we can develop special nature. In addition, you come closer to the groundwater, which makes the plot wetter and remains wetter.”
In total, twenty to thirty centimeters of soil has been excavated from an area of approximately 9.5 hectares. “And that’s a huge amount of sand,” Oomen knows. What is striking here is the way in which all that soil was removed. Instead of 1875 truck rides straight through various villages, the sand was transported by boats via the nearby canal.
This removal of the sand ensured that residents were spared thousands of truck kilometers and the associated inconvenience caused by heavy vehicles. “It was a major undertaking to achieve that, but it is much better,” says the project leader.
The cost of the entire project? About eight million euros. The Aa en Maas Water Board is responsible for approximately one and a half million euros and the province pays the rest.
“Everything to ensure that future generations can enjoy it for a long time.”
Not only nature, but also people benefit from the restoration of the Wijboschbroek, says De Groot. “We are trying to restore the sponge effect of the nature reserve. If more water can be retained here, it will also help to prevent flooding in the immediate area, in Wijbosch and Schijndel.”
The project should be completed in March 2027. De Groot then hopes that the loam forest can recover again: “Everything to ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy it for a long time to come.”
