Last meters of 1.2 kilometers of hedge planted

On Friday afternoon, April 1, various area parties worked together to plant the final meters of a major hedge restoration project. It was the literal capstone of a new 1.2-kilometer network of hedges, the rest of which had previously been planted by machine by the Vereniging Nederlands Cultuurlandschap 's (VNC) green crew.

Since the end of World War II, some 400 thousand kilometers of hedgerows, alder hedges and wooded banks have disappeared in the Netherlands. The Maasheggengebied is now the last large-scale hedge landscape. By planting new hedges, part of the characteristic Maasheggen landscape will be restored, following the pattern of 1950.

Thanks to an additional contribution from the Postcode Lottery in 2016, VNC was able to purchase plots in the Maasheggen area to preserve, restore and plant hedges. It gave a major boost to the agricultural collective Deltaplan Landscape, in which 40 farmers participated in the collective management of hedgerows, bird boxes and herb strips. Numerous other biodiversity projects were also carried out, such as the construction of pools for crested newts.

More and more municipalities and other parties have also joined the collective hedge management effort. As a result, VNC now manages over 120 kilometers of hedges in the Maasheggen area in an ecologically responsible manner.

VNC's purchase of the strategically located plots of land was made possible in part by the voluntary parcel exchange taking place in dDe Maasheggen. The exchange, on the one hand, resulted in a more favorable distribution of land for the farmers, allowing them to optimize agricultural operations, and on the other hand, it restored the landscape.