As a municipality, we would like to have natural, healthy and varied forest areas. To ensure this, we are going to convert part of our forest areas (the Papenvoort heath, the Vaarlese heath, the Collse and Refeling heath and Pastoorsmast) to 'natural forest'. A natural forest is a forest area that consists of a forest as natural as possible with many different native deciduous trees and shrubs (native to our country) and a high biodiversity. 

Work Papenvoortse Heide: felling non-native tree species

In the coming period we will be carrying out work on the Papenvoortse heath in Nuenen. During the winter a number of exotic tree species, such as American oak, Douglas fir and Corsican pine, will be felled here. With this felling we want to reduce the share of exotic tree species. In addition, in this way we provide more light and structure in the forest and also more opportunities for planting native deciduous tree species. In the winter of 2024-2025 we will be planting young native deciduous trees.

Method of felling trees

The Bosgroep Zuid-Nederland selects the trees that will be felled deliberately and very carefully. This will be done in the summer of 2023 (mid-July and August). The trees we remove will receive an orange paint marking on the trunk. This will reduce the proportion of non-native tree species and increase the structure in the forest area. Trees without markings or with yellow stripes or blue or green dots will remain. The felling of the trees will take place next fall/winter.

These measures have already taken place last winter in the forest on the Vaarlese heath (north of the A270 highway).

Safety first

In this type of work, it is very important that everyone pay close attention to safety. The machines also drive on the paths and roads and their size makes them dangerous. In connection with their own safety, it is important that visitors keep enough distance from the machines and certainly do not stand or walk in the turning circle or in the path of the machines. The wood piles must not be climbed, as logs may start to roll. Visitors are kindly requested to keep an appropriate distance from the work and machinery, and not to walk on closed paths.

What do visitors notice about this in the forest?

Of course, we try to keep the inconvenience to a minimum. However, visitors to the Papenvoortse Heide forest area will undoubtedly notice that work is in progress. It is possible that paths are more difficult to walk on during the work, or are temporarily closed. As soon as the work is finished, the paths will reopen and we will repair them if necessary. 

Provincial grant

For the Papenvoort heath and the Vaarlese heath, the Province of North Brabant has received a subsidy within the "Biodiversity in the Brabant Woodland 2022 - 2026 Implementation Program" for making the forests more species-rich, resilient and attractive. This will focus on more natural forests with high biodiversity and a high proportion of native deciduous tree species and shrubs. Some measures within this grant include increasing the structure in the forests, cutting down non-native tree species, planting native deciduous tree species, increasing the proportion of dead wood and spreading rock meal (ground mineral-rich rock) to reduce soil acidification. These measures will be implemented in the coming years.

Questions about the work?

If you have any questions about the work, contact Bosgroep Zuid Nederland at (040) 20 66 360.

Harvester (harvester)	Desired forest appearance Vaarlese heathland