Keywords:
mainland barrier dunes
dune dynamics
recreation

Contact: DZH (Dunewater Company of South Holland), Department of Communication, telephone +31 70 3577634

Location: Atlantic region, The Netherlands, Meijendel dune area

Meijendel dunes
The Meijendel dune area is part of the great barrier dune system of the Dutch mainland coast, where many parabolic dunes formed  since about 1000 A.D. The dune area consists of a partly artificially shaped ridge of fore dunes, parabolic dunes and a broad inner dune ridge with a steep landward facing slope. The dune area is managed by the DZH (Dunewater Company of South Holland). The DZH provides drinking water but also takes responsibility for nature conservation and recreation. In the past century a great part of the dune area is used for the building of houses.
Farmers have used parts of Meijendel for centuries, thereby changing the original state of the dune area. Especially the eastern valleys  are marked by former agricultural use. Old fields with sand walls still exist. From 1820 on, efforts were made to establish agriculture in the dunes. The ground was levelled and sand walls were built to break the wind. From 1874 more technical and large scale activities like abstraction of drinking water, recreation and coastal defence were given priority.

Recreation
The Meijendel dune area is situated in one of the most densely populated areas of Holland. Each year about 1 million visits are made to the area. Some 45 % of all the visitors visit the dune by car. The Meijendel dunes have enormous biking and hiking possibilities.

Management
Main functions of the Meijendel dune area are nature conservation, drinking water recovery, coastal defence, recreation and research. The main problems in the Meijendel dune area are now (2000):

• The possibility to drive cars into the centre of the area (the valley of Meijendel)
• The connection between different areas need to be improved
• The information facilities are restricted (small visitor centre)
• Close to urban areas the possibilities for recreation are restricted (near Scheveningen)

Main aim for recreation is the maintainance and development for a broad scale of nature oriented recreation. The existing recreation possibilities are maintained and outdoor recreation in city areas is developed. A new approach is the zonation of the dunes, so people can visit part of the dunes without restrictions. One third of the dune area is open to the public without many restrictions. One third is only open for those who possess a permit, and one third is not open for public at all. Recently, DZH established a car park where it is free to park at the edge of the dunes, in the centre parking places has been reduced and in the future it won’t be for free to park during weekends.

Results
The parking places at the edges of the dune area are free, the parking place in the middle of the area has to be paid for during weekends. The amount of parking places in the centre has been reduced. By the zonation of the Meijendel dunes, only one third is visited by large numbers, two third is visited by a small number of people. In this area nature is able to develop more naturally.

References:

• Bakker, TH.W.M.& R.N.A.Kramer, Meijendel, a dune area in a densely populated part of the Netherlands, Coastline 1993-3, Coastline special (EUCC library code KJd).
• Bakker,TH.W.M., Fifty years of recreational planning in the Meijendel dunes near The Hague. A short story about cars and parking places, Coastal Dunes Recreation and Planning, Drees,J.M. (ed), EUCC Leiden, The Netherlands, 1997 (EUCC library code DRC 97)
• Jungerius,P.D. & van der Meulen, F., Aeolian dynamics in relation to vegetation in a blowout  complex in the Meijendel dunes, The Netherlands, Journal of Coastal Conservation 1997-3, pp 63-70, EUCC Leiden (EUCC library code KJC 97a)