The title “National Park” has been ostentatiously flaunted for some years now. The Van Gogh National Park – a nature reserve located roughly between Eindhoven, Tilburg and Den Bosch, is to become a new attraction of the Brabant province. Around Eindhoven, the Strabrechtse Heide and the Leenderheide natural parks, among others, joined the project.
However, in 2021, the National Parks Advisory Committee decided that the project was not entitled to National Park status. Yet it does claim that status. After all, the expressions of the nature project invariably refer to ‘Van Gogh National Park’.
This is done in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, with which the project office has good contact. Through the concept of ‘National Parks new style’, the park does have a chance at that title.
New style
In that new style, areas of high natural-historical value should be linked to surrounding landscape, but also to residents and businesses of the area. The Van Gogh National Park is convinced that the project meets the standards for that “new style”.
After all, that should be an area where there is a lot of nature, but which is also “more connected to the society and economy of the future, and where city and country are connected,” Anneke Boezeman, director of Van Gogh National Park, says.
Connection
Hard work is being done on that connection, Boezeman reports. For example, 350 dairy farmers in the region are participating in the biodiversity monitor. That number will soon be expanded to 700 participants, some of whom are also outside the Van Gogh landscape. This is to enable better monitoring of biodiversity in the area.
In addition, Van Gogh bicycle routes were created to better connect the vast area, making it more accessible to both local people and tourists.
Application
For the title of National Park to become official, there is still some work to be done. No new application needs to be done, but an update must be submitted. This must be settled in the first quarter of 2024.
By the middle of 2024 it should be known whether the project will get the desired status of National Park after all. The project office is keeping a wary eye on this: the fall of the government could cause delays.
Source: Studio040
