Zwolse Bos and De Umbrella on the Veluwe

Beautiful tree-lined avenues, grassy areas and vast heathlands. The Zwolle forest not only offers glimpses into the diversity in this area, but also into its history. The old heathland made way for forests, but is slowly gaining more space to grow again. In 1972 and 1973, two heavy storms hit the area and wiped out a third of the Zwolle forest. This offered opportunities for planting deciduous trees between the dark, heavy conifers, which improved diversity. The damp area in the northwest corner was also plowed at the time to promote the growth of heathland plants. Now peat fluff, heather, sundew and white beak rush are growing there again. Old and young nature alternate beautifully in this area. Although sheep used to graze the heath, the area is now too small for that. The site is now maintained with the help of machines. This is only done in small pieces, so as not to disturb the peace and quiet of the viviparous lizard, the slow worm, many butterflies and insects and all kinds of other larger mammals.