Urbanized man and the longing for a New Wilderness

Abstract

In the intensively used agricultural, industrial and urban landscapes of the Netherlands, a lot of public interest is attracted by spontaneous nature in areas where nature 'just happens' instead of being planned and rigidly managed. In pilot projects the Ark Foundation experiments with landscape development in floodplains and coastal areas under the influence of natural dynamic processes such as flooding, erosion, sedimentation and natural grazing by large herbivores. The projects seek to combine different requirements of society such as the need for flood defence, extraction of renewable material, drinking water, biodiversity, and (eco-)tourism, and are always carried out in coalition with different nature conservation organizations, local and regional authorities, the extraction industry and the tourism industry. The areas are fully open to the public, which is actively involved in the projects through field classes, nature education et cetera. Natural grazing, seen as an essential part in landscape development, is defined as mixed grazing with horses and cattle, and preferably other species; at low grazing intensity, where sufficient food supply in late winter defines herbivore densities; with robust races closely related to their wild ancestors, and capable of surviving (almost) without human interference; living in herds in a natural gender ratio, and consisting of their natural social communities like harems and groups of young stallions, or groups of cows, groups of bulls and solitary bulls.