The Drenthe Plateau

Abstract

The area in which the restoration experiments of former species-rich grassland took place is described in this chapter. It lies in the inland nature reserve ‘Stroomdallandschap Drentsche A’ (53° 05′ N, 6° 40′ E in the centre of the long narrow area along a brook system: 3500 ha). It forms part of the so-called ‘esdorpen’ landscape (Bijhouwer, 1971; Renes, 1981) or ‘brinkdorpen’ landscape (Lambert, 1971) featuring a previously characteristic combination of arable land (the ‘es’), grassland, hedgebanks, heathland and woodland. The old moist meadows adjacent to the stream form one study area and recent grassland, which was reclaimed from heathland in the 1950’s, forms the other study area.