New Nature in Old Landscapes: Some Dutch Examples of the Relation between History, Heritage and Ecological Restoration

Abstract

For most of the twentieth century, nature conservation activities were connected to the protection of agrarian landscapes. During the late 1980s, the introduction of the concept of 'new wilderness' offered new opportunities for ecologists, but at the same time produced conflicts with traditional nature and landscape conservation. At the heart of the conflict were different visions of the relation between nature and society, sometimes resulting in a polarised debate, with opposing Arcadian and wilderness visions. In this paper, the new wilderness will be described from a landscape perspective, envisioning these wildernesses as a phase in the long history of human influences on landscapes and as part of a landscape that is complex and multi-layered. Some examples will show how a sectoral approach to nature leads to projects in which opportunities to integrate the new wilderness into a wider context of landscape and society are missed. In the final part, a prospect will be shown in which (new) wilderness is seen as part of a layered landscape.

De polder als eeuwig slagveld. Landschap, waterbeheer en militaire metaforiek

“…Behalve dat er vruchtbare landbouwgrond verloren zou gaan, deed de ruimtelijke aanpassing ook inbreuk op de lokale identiteit. 26 Een van de betrokken boeren klaagde tegen een NRC-journalist over het gebrekkige historische besef van de politici die de ontpoldering bedachten. 'Het is absurd om land dat met strijd is gewonnen op de zee aan de zee terug te geven.…”

Domesticating Rewilding: Interpreting Rewilding in England's Green and Pleasant Land

“…This is particularly the case in England where landscapes are 'culturally saturated' and where conservation has traditionally maintained that 'cultural richness' as opposed to addressing what can be framed as its 'ecologically denuded' state (Brook 2018). Since rewilding shifts the focus from 'traditional nature and landscape conservation', which protected 'agrarian landscapes', to ecological restoration, this creates conflict between 'Arcadian and wilderness visions' (Renes 2018). This tension is shaping rewilding in a way that is unique to the English context (and distinct from other European forms of rewilding), which this paper identifies and describes as the 'domestication' of rewilding i.e.…”

The Appearance, Disappearance and Reappearance of Nature

“…The majority of Besson's participants favoured forest and lake environments like those of their native Finland. History and culture play a role in envisaging a place of rest, recovery and relaxation, as they do in various aspects of our understanding of the nature (Renes, 2018;Tănăsescu and Constantinescu, 2019), even when we are not currently there in person, as in the case of these expatriates. The crucial role that aesthetic appreciation plays in our understanding, lived experience and well-being has been mooted before (Brady, 2006), so it is good to see further studies exploring and confirming these insights.…”