Naardermeer

The deeper story

The Naardermeer lies at the transition from the higher sandy soils of the Gooi to the low peat and polder country around the Vecht. From the surrounding roads, it sometimes appears as a broad green basin. Reed beds conceal the water, wet meadows glisten behind low embankments and birds rise above the marsh. The area feels secluded, although railway lines, motorways and towns are never far away.

Unlike many lakes in the western Netherlands, the Naardermeer was not created by peat extraction. It is a natural lake whose history is connected with flooding, peat formation and its former links with the Vecht and the Zuiderzee. Water could penetrate far into the low-lying land. That connection was closed at the end of the fourteenth century, but the lake remained a wet core that proved difficult to control.

Several attempts were made to drain the Naardermeer. A lake was regarded as unused space, while a polder could provide farmland. Windmills and later other technology were used to remove the water. The soil subsided, however, the water returned and the operation proved expensive and vulnerable. What seemed a logical reclamation project on a map did not work so easily in the landscape. The Naardermeer endured.

Those failed drainage schemes helped shape the present mosaic. Open lakes merge into shallow water, extensive reed beds, waterlogged hay meadows and swamp woodland. In areas of natural infilling, open water gradually becomes covered by vegetation. Water soldier and water lilies float in sheltered sections, while alders and willows establish themselves in the wet woodland. Some parts of the forest are barely entered and develop without a conventional path network.

The range of habitats attracts remarkable birdlife. The purple heron is closely associated with the Naardermeer. It flies from the reeds to shallow water and wet grassland to feed. Cormorants rest in trees or on posts, spoonbills sweep their flattened bills through shallow margins and the bittern usually remains concealed. Its low booming call may carry far across the reeds in spring. Sedge warblers and Savi’s warblers are more often heard than seen.

There is also abundant life in and beside the water. Dragonflies hunt above ditches and sheltered banks. Fish use vegetation-rich waterways, and bats follow woodland edges in the evening. The return of the otter shows the importance of clean water and safe links with other marshlands. A sighting remains rare, but tracks along the banks may reveal its presence.

Around 1900, the area faced a more drastic threat than the earlier drainage attempts. Amsterdam needed space for urban waste, and the Naardermeer was considered as a possible dumping site. The lake and marshes would have disappeared beneath rubbish and infill. At that time, nature had little independent legal protection. Land was expected to be economically useful or could be replaced by a new function.

Jac. P. Thijsse and other nature advocates resisted the plan. Their campaign demonstrated that monuments did not have to be buildings, paintings or historic objects. A lake, reed bed and breeding colony could also represent something irreplaceable. The Society for the Preservation of Nature Monuments was founded in 1905. Soon afterwards, the society purchased the Naardermeer. It became the organisation’s first major nature reserve and an example for later conservation elsewhere in the Netherlands.

The purchase did not mean that the lake would remain safe or healthy without further effort. Water quality, drying, nitrogen deposition, disturbance and ecological isolation continue to affect the marsh. The landscape surrounding the core is therefore crucial. Wet grasslands and new marsh zones in the Naardermeer buffer retain water, provide feeding and breeding habitat and connect the lake more effectively with the wider landscape. Management involves intervening where necessary and preserving quiet where natural processes require space.

Only part of the Naardermeer can be understood from the public paths. The Boot Trail and other walking routes pass wet meadows, boardwalks, ditches and observation points. The long route around the reserve takes a substantial part of the day and can be extremely muddy after rain. Walking is free and requires no guide. Dogs are not permitted on several nature trails, and visitors must remain on the marked routes.

The perspective changes from an electric boat. With a guide, the route passes along narrower waterways, beside reed beds and across water hidden from the surrounding roads. Boat trips are paid, have limited capacity and must be reserved in advance. They are not required for a visit, but they reveal sections of the landscape that can barely be seen from the shore.

Each way of visiting therefore tells a different part of the same story. Walkers see the lake as a wet core behind reeds, grassland and embankments. Cyclists experience the scale of the surrounding polders. From the boat, the relationship between water, natural infilling and swamp woodland becomes clear. Together, these perspectives reveal a landscape shaped not only by natural processes but also by failed reclamation, threatened destruction and more than a century of active conservation.

The Naardermeer survived because people decided at a crucial moment that a marsh was not empty space. Between the reeds and open water lies more than a species-rich nature reserve. This is where the idea took shape that a landscape can possess value without first being converted into farmland, building land or a dumping ground.