National Park
The National Parks in the Netherlands are not comparable to internationally famous ones National Parks like Yosemite in the United States and the Serengeti in Tanzania. Our country no longer has large areas of untouched nature. By giving an area National Park status, the government wants to emphasize that nature and the landscape can be protected through cooperation with the managers and owners. We are also jointly looking for a way to allow people to recreate there in a responsible manner.
On the northern part of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, the first nature reserves that people from Amsterdam, for example, encounter when they want to go out. In recent years it has become increasingly busy there. By adding the nature of the area to the National Park, the parties involved would be better able to consult with each other about where day-trippers are welcome and where they would rather not.
Agreements can also be made about soil management and the water level, and about who pays for the costs of recreation and nature conservation. In Lage Vuursche, for example, a so-called ‘pancake tax’ has been discussed for years. This is a surcharge for customers of the catering companies in the village, with which the managers and owners in the area are compensated. They cannot levy taxes themselves and meanwhile see entrepreneurs benefit from their efforts. The idea has so far been rejected by the city council of Baarn.