Flowering heathland can be cut for free on the Hoge Veluwe this weekend

Anyone visiting De Hoge Veluwe this weekend can cut a bunch of flowering heather for free. The park has designated one hectare of heathland in the Deelense Veld for this purpose.

Heather is currently in full bloom, thanks to the very wet spring and the dry and warm weather of recent weeks.

With this action, the park wants to draw attention to the management of the heathland. This requires human intervention, because "if nature were allowed to take its full course, the heathlands would eventually turn into forests", reports De Hoge Veluwe. If the heathland is not regularly grazed, burned, mowed or “chopped” (shallowly dug), Scots pines, birch trees and grass will shoot up.

In areas where the heather may be mowed, management will be resumed after a while.