Wet and Dry Areas
The Oostvaardersplassen can be divided into two areas: wet and dry.
In the wet area along the Markermeer, there are large reedbeds on clay, where moulting geese often feed. This area is also home to Great Cormorant, Common Spoonbill, Great Egret, White-tailed Eagle and Eurasian Bittern, among many other animals. Oostvaardersplassen is a Special Protection Area for birdlife.
Before the establishment of the reserve, the dry area was a nursery for willow trees, and in the first year hundreds of seedlings could be found on each square metre. This led to concern that a dense woodland would develop, significantly reducing the value of the habitat for water birds. To avoid this, the park's managers brought in a number of large herbivores to keep the area more open, including Konik ponies, red deer and Heck cattle. These large grazing animals are kept out in the open all year round without supplemental feeding, and are allowed to behave as wild animals (without, for example, castrating males). The ecosystem developing under their influence is thought to resemble those that would have existed on European river banks and deltas before human disturbance.
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O let them be left, wildness and wet;
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—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)
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The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
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