Maasheggen farmers and municipality pull together to restore hedgerows

Aided by volunteers from the Agrarische Natuurvereniging, 35 farmers in the UNESCO area De Maasheggen have moved and trimmed kilometers of hedges and created more than one and a half kilometers of new nature strips in recent months.
It is the impressive result of a cooperation between the landowners in the area and the then municipality of Boxmeer. "The Maasheggen also concerns us," explains former ZLTO board member and co-initiator Jan Martens. "We have no interest in killing the hedge area. On the contrary, as farmers we also want to enjoy the landscape in which we live and work."

The seed for the joint action of ZLTO, the Agrarische Natuurvereniging and the then municipality of Boxmeer was sown four years ago. The local ZLTO department received complaints from members about the poor accessibility of their lands in the Maasheggen area. Entrances and passages had become too tight for agricultural machinery. Individual requests from farmers to be allowed to move one or two meters of hedges came up against 'a wall of bureaucracy'. This could and should be improved, thought both the local ZLTO administrators and the Boxmeer city council. The idea arose to apply for a collective permit, giving landowners the opportunity to widen their driveways (up to a maximum of 7 meters) and make passages (up to a maximum of 10 meters) more accessible. In return, the municipality asked the affected farmers to ensure that hedges on and around their land were repaired and unused gaps were filled.

Great willingness to participate

The local ZLTO department organized three member evenings in the Maasheggen area to gauge landowners' willingness to participate. This turned out to be great. In the end, 35 farmers joined the initiative. Raymond Derks, board member ZLTO Land van Cuijk: "The whole process took a long time. In particular, it took a long time to establish per parcel how and where compensation would be provided. Once that was settled, things went quickly. Last fall we sat around the table to determine the follow-up approach and in the meantime the planned work has been pretty much completed."

The success of the project "Optimization and opening up plots in Maasheggengebied," as it was called, is also due to the willingness of the Agrarische Natuurvereniging, with the planting material made available by the then municipality of Boxmeer, to trim the hedges and create nature strips. "We did that for free," says Eric Lamers of the Agrarische Natuurvereniging. "We wanted to show with this that most farmers are happy to help maintain this area. Because it's our area, too." That tastes like a sequel, Lamers believes. "We would also like to play a role in maintaining the hedges in the future."

Incidentally, ZLTO also received a contribution for the restoration of the hedges from provincial subsidy scheme "construction of landscape elements and restoration of cultural-historical landscape elements.

Sequel?

Will the joint action of ZLTO, ANV and municipality be followed up? If it is up to the former two organizations, yes. "We hope that a second collective will emerge," says Raymond Derks. "A number of farmers have not participated now. It would be nice if they also join in a follow-up action. After all, more than 60 percent of the plots in the Maasheggengebied are owned by ZLTO members."

Jan Martens expects interest in agricultural nature management to increase. "Many farms are expanding, in order to supplement their income. Agricultural nature management is then a great opportunity. Especially young farmers recognize the possibilities of agricultural nature management."

Municipality Land van Cuijk is pleased with the commitment of the farmers and the Agrarische Natuurvereniging to the Maasheggen area. "The action we developed together has helped both the landscape and the farmers," says concerned official Igor Derks. "But perhaps more importantly, it has ensured that trust in each other has increased."

Pictured (left to right): Eric Lamers (ANV), Jan Martens (ZLTO), Geert-Jan de Kleijn (ANV) and Raymond Derks (ZLTO).
Photo: Ed van Alem