It was almost as if the swamp in the De Bruuk nature reserve no longer existed at all. “Farmers have dug ditches here to drain the water and drain the swamp,” says ecologist Tim Termaat of Staatsbosbeheer, while his boots are almost submerged. Everything shows that De Bruuk is still a swamp. Termaat points out: “I think that is an ivy water crowfoot, a special aquatic plant.”
Most of the swamp was indeed drained to make it suitable for agriculture, but in this part the groundwater continued to rise. It was far too wet for arable farming or for grazing cows. Only hay could be extracted. Nowadays you can still stand in the water up to halfway up your shins in some parts.
What remained of the swamp became the De Bruuk protected nature reserve. It is one of the smallest Natura 2000 areas in the Netherlands: about a hundred hectares in size. Yet it is rich in species: there can be thirty species of plants per square meter, comparable to tropical rainforest.
Small nature reserves are under a magnifying glass. The four coalition parties (PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB) agreed last summer that Dutch nature must consist of “robust nature reserves”. “No ‘scattered nature’”, the Outline Agreement specifically states.
But these areas cannot simply be deleted: they are Natura 2000 areas, which are European protected areas and cannot simply be abolished. State Secretary Jean Rummenie (Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, BBB) has so far kept a low profile: he writes in a letter to Parliament that he plans to discuss the “reclassification of nature reserves” with the European Commission next year.
Too much attention is paid to the dotted lines of Natura 2000, as if there is no nature outside it
In the meantime, the cabinet has a different plan: provinces are asked to map “where the nature regulations are restrictive”, specifically for small areas, a ministry spokesperson wrote to NRC. Provinces may designate areas whose goals, such as increasing the population of a certain species, could possibly be transferred to nature reserves where this would be ‘easier’.
The spokesperson gives a hypothetical example of a nature reserve where the objective is to increase the population of great crested newts by ten. If that proves difficult, provinces can consider whether the target of ten additional great crested newts can perhaps be achieved more quickly in another, nearby nature reserve. The target can then be deleted in the other area.
A possible consequence is that the great crested newt in that nature reserve is endangered: the population had to grow there to have a good chance of survival. The ministry emphasizes that this plan can only be implemented if it is also “better for nature”. Provinces must properly substantiate this.
‘Snips’
NRC calculated how many of these types of ‘snippets’ of nature there are. In the absence of a clear definition – the ministry does not have one either – a limit of 250 hectares has been used (see box). With that definition, a total of 202 pieces of Natura 2000 area are a ‘snippet’.
Sometimes it concerns the entire nature reserve, such as De Bruuk in Gelderland, near the German border. Of the 202 ‘snippets’, 22 are complete Natura 2000 areas. The rest consists of parts that were cut off from larger nature reserves, for example by a highway or buildings.
Taken together, these fragments cover more than eight thousand hectares. If all those pieces were combined into one nature reserve, it would be one of the ten largest Natura 2000 areas on land – roughly the size of the Kennemerland-Zuid dune area, or even four times as large as the Sallandse Heuvelrug.
NRC spoke to eight managers of small nature reserves, spread across the country. This shows that the boundaries of the Natura 2000 areas, which were established by the Dutch government, were often drawn very narrowly. The nature reserves are usually actually larger, says landscape ecologist Allard van Leerdam of Staatsbosbeheer. “Often only the part with the best nature is designated as a Natura 2000 area,” says Van Leerdam. “As if there is no nature out there.”
Sometimes the nature reserves themselves have to be adjusted to keep them within the tight boundaries. Take the Coepelduynen in South Holland. That nature reserve is stopped so abruptly by construction that emergency measures must prevent the dunes from blowing into the residential area: the dunes are being planted.
Photos: Eric Brinkhorst
Farmers
Ecologist Termaat’s boots soak in the high water of De Bruuk. He points. “That hill there is a moraine, created in the penultimate ice age.” That’s why De Bruuk is so wet. The water drops from two moraines to the lowest point, where De Bruuk is located. There it is pushed up from the ground, full of minerals such as iron and calcium.
The moraines, which are so important for the marsh, are not part of the official Natura 2000 area. In fact, there are farmers on all sides between the ramparts and the nature reserve. They want to keep the water level as low as possible, so that tractors can be driven and crops can grow better. In the summer, when it is hot and dry, farmers pump groundwater to keep crops wet. “The water is being pulled on all sides here,” says Termaat. “Drinking water is also extracted.”
And they notice that in De Bruuk. Especially in the dry summers, the groundwater level drops considerably, causing peat layers to be broken down. In addition, rainwater had a greater influence on the area – and that water has a different composition than groundwater. As a result, peat moss, among other things, became dominant and displaced other species.
The water is being pulled on all sides here
In recent years, Staatsbosbeheer took measures to keep the area wet, which makes it rich in species: ditches were filled in and weirs installed to keep the water in the area. “Everything we can do within the area has been done,” says Termaat. It is now being investigated whether this keeps the water levels high enough to maintain De Bruuk.
Termaat fears not. “And then we have to look at measures outside the area.” For example, with a ‘buffer zone’ of less intensive agriculture around the area, where water levels can remain higher.
NRC approached several farmers around De Bruuk. One wanted his name in the newspaper. “Nature is moving further and further. It looks a bit like a Hungry Caterpillar and I have a problem with that,” says farmer Martien Nillesen, who has 180 dairy cows and is an arable farmer. “We are already allowed to spread less manure in a strip of 250 meters around the area.” Yet he might be willing to cooperate in such a buffer zone with a higher groundwater level. He had previously exchanged land so that a waterway could be moved. “That hasn’t made me any worse. Everything can be talked about,” he says.
Farmers also play a crucial role elsewhere. De Wilck (South Holland) has been designated as a resting and breeding area for birds. The official area is 116 hectares, but the original nature reserve is at least twice as large. “The other half is all agricultural land,” says landscape ecologist Van Leerdam. “We try to work with farmers there. Sometimes it goes very well, sometimes not at all. We keep as much peace as possible in the spring, until June 1. But then a neighbor’s field has already been mowed three times, so to speak. This influences the breeding success of meadow birds in our reserve.”
Photos: Eric Brinkhorst
Maternity rooms
Small areas often contain special nature: heaths, plant-rich dunes, swamps, forests in wet and calcareous stream valleys. Biodiversity is high. The Zouweboezem (South Holland, intersected by a highway) has the largest population of purple herons in Northern Europe; The fire salamander still occurs in the Bunder and Elslooërbos (Limburg) and the swamp club moss grows in the Schaopedobbe (Friesland).
“These areas contain species that used to be common in the Netherlands, but now occur in very few places,” says Termaat. “These types of nature reserves are the last straw for grassland butterflies, for example, otherwise they will disappear completely. They are breeding grounds for biodiversity.” But these special species are sometimes also confined to nature reserves, which are then too far from other areas. For example, De Bruuk has a population of silver manes, a butterfly species rare in the Netherlands. But the butterflies have difficulty spreading; the next area is miles away.
These types of nature reserves are the last straw for grassland butterflies, for example, otherwise they will disappear completely
Conversely, it is difficult for species that have disappeared to return. The strawberry butterfly, which is hardly found in the Netherlands anymore, disappeared in the Coepelduynen. Parts of the nature reserve have now become suitable for the butterfly again, but it is probably too isolated to make the crossing.
“I would rather abolish fragmented nature,” says Termaat. “But by making those areas larger.” Imagine, says Termaat, that they are abolished. “Then you can be absolutely certain that many species will disappear from the Netherlands.”
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