2023-06-16 20:00:33
Two years following the devastating storm in the woods near Leersum, the Utrecht Landscape has constructed a storm path. A special experience where you can walk above the broken trees.
It happened within a minute on June 18, 2021. A fall wind – a sudden storm that resembles a tornado – skimmed over the woods near Leersum. Over an area of 100 hectares, regarding eight thousand pine trees of 20 meters high snapped like matchsticks, resulting in a mikado landscape.
“The fall wind really pulled a strip through the forest and past the village. It was very bad for the residents, but for the forest we see it as an opportunity for nature. Very valuable,” says forester Maarten den Hartigh. His green eyes squint a little once morest the bright sunlight. Tanned, brown beard, green suit, thick binoculars on the chest. The unmistakable pine scent of Dutch forests hangs over the path. “This was originally a production forest for wood. It was planted around 1900. They are all Scots pines. The wood was mainly used for mining.” So it is not so valuable as nature: “It is a very monotonous forest.”
The Utrecht Landscape, which manages part of the affected forest, wants to make the forest more mixed. For that purpose, the storm was a godsend. “We pull down trees to simulate a storm,” says Den Hartigh. “That is a very slow process. The gust of wind has done so much for the dynamics in one fell swoop. The large scale of it, we might never have done that ourselves.”
Sea of new leaves and buds
To show how extensive the damage was and certainly also how quickly nature recovers and changes as a result, there is now the storm path. From the parking lot on the Utrechtse Baan it winds through the woods for less than a kilometer. First an ordinary sand path that ends halfway on a large platform, where you can walk over the fallen trees at a height of 1.5 meters. It lies right along the edge of the affected area. On the left you see a chaos of fallen branches, broken pines and debarked trees; on the right an almost intact forest. At the same time, the left is a sea of new leaves, tender buds and low shrubs and remarkably few pines. On the right it is rather bare under the tall pines.
“It’s a big contrast. Two years ago I already said: it is going to change super fast, but I am still surprised how quickly nature picks it up.” He grabs a twig from a tree lying on its side. “Here: this is an oak tree. Although it has fallen over, it continues to grow. Apparently the root ball is still in the ground.” In the part not affected by the storm, an oak would hardly stand a chance due to lack of light, says the forester.
“What are you doing here?!”
That applies to more nature. Species that are rare further on make their nests: badgers, lizards, insects. “There are a lot of animals in this area,” says Den Hartigh. “Black woodpeckers are flocking to it. It has also become a core area for deer, because this part is less disturbed by humans. I sometimes go through it myself, which is a lot of climbing and scrambling. Sometimes those deer look at me: what are you doing here?!”
How the forest will develop further is also a guess for Den Hartigh. “No idea! I’m very curious how it will look like, I’m already looking forward to it. Hopefully I can look at it once more in fifty years.”
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Damaged, Leersum recovers following the natural disaster
Leersum is recovering following unprecedented wind gusts that wreaked havoc almost two weeks ago. ‘In a year you shouldn’t be able to see that something has happened.’
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