De Ronde Put Flemish nature reserve investigated
Eco-hydrological study predicts the effect of intervening in nature
How do we arrive at a responsible and well-founded organization and management plan for De Ronde Put nature reserve in the province of Antwerp, taking account of Europe’s Natura 2000 ambitions to achieve a coherent network of protected nature areas? That was the question that the Belgian Agency for Forestry and Nature put to Haskoning Belgium. The answer: let us carry out an eco-hydrological study so we can predict what the effect is on nature if it is interfered with.
‘In an eco-hydrological study like this we investigate the relationship between eco-systems and water systems in the area,’ explains project manager Floris Vanderhaeghe. ‘Land managers like the government and nature preservation associations, or private organizations such as operators of stone or sand quarries are our clients. The demand is quite diverse. Sometimes it is limited and quite specific, for example dictated by legal requirements. Sometimes, like De Ronde Put, it is very detailed.’
Investigation
‘We made an inventory of the flora and fauna and the characteristics of the landscape, researched literature and compared old and recent data. The groundwater level, and its quantity and quality have a major impact on nature. These were measured in several places. In this case it took two years to get a good full picture. An extra year was needed for soil research in the areas around De Ronde Put and surrounding nature centres and the fertilizer use it entails.’
Measurement results
The study area is one of the few places in Flanders with remaining moorland. The biodiversity is still considerable, but it is rapidly declining. ‘For example you only occasionally come across the bog asphodel and the yellow-spotted emerald dragonfly. Fast and appropriate intervention is essential. This is also what Europe is championing: the creation of larger nature areas with higher quality of nature, in which there is room for the return of the yellow-spotted whiteface dragonfly, the goshawk, the honey-buzzard and other native species.’
Scenarios
‘We input the information into simulation models such as Triwaco and Duraveg. Royal Haskoning is the market leader in studies like these and developed studies that by now have more than proved themselves. They show what goes on in the environment if, for example, you take half a metre off an area or, start cutting elsewhere, fell or coppice forests or cut peat. We set up and calculated a number of these scenarios with the client. In this way you can illustrate the vision for an area, and provide the basis it needs to put it into effect.’ Civil engineers, biologists, a chemist and a GIS expert worked together on the recently completed study.
Expert
Client Guy Heutz is very happy with the collaboration and result. Our questions about the hydrology in De Ronde Put have been answered with great expertise. And more than that. We were told what was essential to research, but also what was unnecessary. And we now know how we can organize the water level management in the pools. What’s more a long term vision for a larger area has been laid out. We do not have this area under management, but in the vision there are indications of where there are opportunities to make a link between De Ronde Put and De Reuselse Moeren, the Dutch marshland reserve. We can certainly take this further.’
Contact: Floris Vanderhaeghe
+32 (0)15 40 56 44
f.vanderhaeghe@haskoning.be
