12 Summary The growing role of the market in landscape and nature This book consists of three parts. The first part provides a sketch of the past and present of nature in the Netherlands and the role of private land ownership. Next follows an extensive chapter containing a series of personal interviews exploring the main issues and concerns of private nature managers. This same chapter provides an overview of existing and future sources of income and funding methods to serve as inspiration for estate managers from all manner of backgrounds. This overview ends with a series of ideas for changes to government policy aimed at reducing the regulatory pressure and increasing the scope for entrepreneurship. History Even before Roman times the area of woodland was already shrinking. The absolute low point was reached around 1800 with 100,000 hectares. That is 3% of the Netherlands. During those same centuries the area of wilderness expanded, peaking around 1800 at 1 million hectares, which represented about a third of the Netherlands, due to the creation of large areas of heathland by farmers who allowed their sheep to graze. Turf was harvested in high and low moorland. Even before the 18th century wealthy individuals started constructing country estates along the River Vecht and in the coastal strip of land behind the dunes between Wassenaar and Bloemendaal. Some of the owners wanted their country estates to be self-sufficient. For centuries they achieved this by generating income from such diverse sources as agricultural land rent, hunting rights and timber production. This is the origin of the multifunctional landed estates that we still know today. In the 19th century private individuals started to cultivate the wilderness to grow grain crops and plant trees for timber. They bought large domains that were owned by the state, which badly needed this income to pay off its large debts accumulated in the French era. A growing demand for mine timber and tannin from oak bark for the Pagina 15
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