Traditional irrigation of grassland

The Stichting Waterpark (Waterpark Foundation), Veldwerkcentrum het Lankheet (Fieldwork Centre Het Lankheet), Vereniging Natuurmonumenten (Natural Monuments Association) and Beheereenheid Kempen en Midden-Limburg (Management Unit Kempen and Mid-Limburg) have added the Traditional irrigation of grassland to the Inventory. Several organisations are involved in traditional grassland irrigation:

• Landgoed het Lankheet (Natuurschoonwet BV), the owner of the land of one of the sites; they provide support for landscape restoration and design.
• Stichting De Groene Waaier, this is a partnership of local land management organisations: Staatsbosbeheer (Haaksbergerveen), Natuurmonumenten (Buurserzand and Witte Veen) and the Lankheet estate (Het Lankheet, Het Assink and Het Aaftink).
• Waterschap Rijn en IJssel, they are responsible for water management in the catchment area and a partner in the water supply. They are co-responsible for the restoration of historical water systems, the purification park and the retention areas.
• Historische Kring Haaksbergen, the Vereniging voor Natuur- en Milieueducatie (IVN) and De Schipperskring, they provide volunteers for the irrigation practice.
• On De Pelterheggen a team is active that has a role in the management, maintenance and protection of the irrigation system.

The oldest reference to irrigation of grasslands in the Netherlands dates from the 14th century. Roughly speaking, irrigation systems can be distinguished into the 'stream lands' (grasslands directly bordering the stream, which can be flooded with simple weirs) and artificially raised streams, that can be used to irrigate higher grasslands in the stream valley.
From the 18th century onwards, agricultural reformers with an urban background built other types of flow systems, a finer water distribution system, but more labour-intensive. With the establishment of agricultural schools around 1800, the old farming systems gradually faded into the background. After the private division of the farmlands in the Netherlands in the middle of the 19th century, irrigation then declined in volume. To improve agriculture, from then on industrial water meadow systems were constructed, large-scale and geometric variants of the old farming systems. With the advent of artificial fertiliser, which became cheaply available after World War I due to large-scale production, this system also disappeared. In order to prevent the fertiliser from running off, the water could no longer be directed onto the grassland; instead, it had to be drained away. Thus, the obviousness of irrigation quickly disappeared from the collective memory. Drainage and dewatering became the standards of water management in the last century.
The irrigation systems, which had fallen into disuse, subsequently removed by large-scale land consolidation and land development in the course of the 20th century. An inventory carried out in 2001 showed that many relics can nevertheless still be found in the landscape. However, cartographic, floristic and soil data allow a reconstruction that enables restoration plans to be made.
Today, the usefulness of irrigation, the preservation and restoration of biodiversity, the creation of a climate resilient landscape (storage and retention of water) and a herb-rich grass yield (roughage) for organic dairy farming is highly topical.

• Regular information is provided to the various bodies, such as the Delta Commissei, the interprovincial consultation (IPO), the Union of Water Boards, the Union of Forest Groups, the Federatie Particulier Grondbezit (FPG), the Land- en Tuinbouworganisatie (LTO), Natuurmonumenten, Staatsbosbeheer, the own Rijn and IJssel Water Boards and De Dommel, and the own provinces of Overijssel and North Brabant.
• Representatives of the above organisations are invited to practice and public days and they are involved in setting up a course on grassland irrigation.
• The teaching packages on grassland irrigation are coordinated by the Haaksbergs Onderwijs Overleg (H2O), as a result of which 11 of the 14 affiliated primary schools participate in this educational project.
• The existing teaching material for primary schools will be further developed by involving schoolchildren in demonstration projects.
• For secondary schools, a theme project is proposed, which can be built on over several years (including field research, flora mapping etc.). This option is being discussed with the education coordinator of the Assink comprehensive school.
• An exchange trip between the Pelterheggen and the Lankheet will be organised for the volunteers involved.
• A course on 'traditional irrigation of grasslands' will be developed for current and future volunteers, after which this course proposal will be submitted to and worked out with the international platform Traditionele Bewässering/Kulturerbe Europas in Freiburg.
• Discussions will be started with the Van Hall Larenstein, University of Applied Sciences, the higher vocational training institute for nature and landscape management, to investigate the possibility of guest lectures or an optional course on grassland irrigation.
• The neighbouring farmers will be involved in the practice days and/or separate information activities will be organised.