Stuifzand Lemelerveld - Lemele

Here, the heathland is suddenly interrupted by a sandpit. This is no accident - this piece of sand was created by human hand. Man first created it unintentionally, then fought it and finally restored it consciously, in a kind of dance with history. It began hundreds of years ago. The heathland - itself already a result of clearcutting, namely forest clearing - was so depleted that the underlying sand emerged. For too long, the land had been grazed by sheep and cattle and culled for fuel and farmyard manure. The heath threw in the towel and revealed its fragile underbelly: the sand, which covers the soil in these parts. Deck sand, indeed. The sand left behind during the ice ages in the harsh phase after the creation of the 'mountains'.

Early man could not cope with drifting sand and tried to retain it by planting woods. Wind drift was undesirable and the soil unusable. As late as the 1930s, entire projects were set up for this purpose. The unemployed planted coniferous forests with a twofold purpose: they had something to do in times of crisis and the sand was stored. An additional advantage: the wood was worth something. This explains the presence of coniferous forests on the Salland Ridge.

Nowadays, the drifting sand, which has its own flora and fauna, is desirable again. Landschap Overijssel, the manager of this area, has cleared the sand and keeps a close eye on keeping it open.