Embankment
Long before the debate about the creation of 'new nature' erupted in the Netherlands in the 1990s, nature in the Lauwersmeer could officially (and with policy support) already develop by itself. Poldering an area without yielding land seemed like a remarkable choice that was illustrative for a new attitude to nature in 1969.

Safety
As far back as 1849, the engineer B.P.G. van Diggelen drew up a first plan for the diking in and reclamation of the Lauwerszee. The great flood disaster of 1953 put the poldering of the Lauwerszee back on the agenda. Now the most important objective was improving safety. Under pressure from the people of Friesland, in 1961 the government opted for constructing a 13.5-kilometre enclosing dam. The dam was completed in 1969. The diked-in area consisted of 7,100 hectares of new land and 2,000 hectares of open water.

National Park
In the Friesland-Groningen regional plans, the more elevated and most fertile expanse of clay and sandy clay soil along the old coastline was reserved for agriculture. In addition, the government designated nature areas, containing military practice zones that were, activities permitting, to be open to the public in part. As the salinity was flushed out of the water and washed from the soil, the flora and fauna also changed. In 2003 the area was declared a National Park. Because recreation in the North of the Netherlands is an important pillar of the economy, the area's openness to this activity will no doubt be exploited further in the future.

Theme New Nature

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