De Gelderse Poort

Düffel landscape at Mehr on the German side

De Gelderse Poort ( German gateway to Gelderland ) is a nature conservation and landscape development project in the German-Dutch border area between Kleve , Nijmegen , Arnhem and Emmerich am Rhein , which extends over an area of around 21,000 hectares. It is a joint project between the Dutch province of Gelderland and the German district of Kleve , in which other institutions (municipalities, ministries, etc.) are involved.

Where the Waal separates from the Pannerden Canal to the north , the province of Gelderland began planning the cross-border nature conservation project in 1991. The 5000 hectare nature reserves “Düffel - Kellener Altrhein and Flussmarschen”, “Kranenburger Bruch” and “Salmorth” in the Kleve district were included from the start. The German part of the project area covers a total of around 10,000 hectares. On the Dutch side, these are the 11,000 hectares of Ooijpolder on the Waal and Rijnstrangen north of the Bijlands Canal .

Canal construction of the 18th century

Between 1773 and 1776 the Bijlands Canal was created as a shortcut of a meander of the Waal. The eastern part of this meander is now called De Bijland and is a 250 hectare lake with a marina , water ski training slope and campsite .

Pannerdens Canal , built between 1701 and 1709, is the connection to the Nederrijn and replaces an old branch of the Rhine. Over time this has partially silted up and forms the Rijnstrangen area today.

fauna and Flora

Millingerwaard

In the 700 hectare Millingerwaard north-west of the Dutch town of Millingen am Rhein there are sand dunes, there are beavers and around two hundred Konik wild horses and Galloway cattle each in semi-wild rearing . Both grass eater species differ in their demands on the landscape. Wild horses only need open land, while cattle can use a forest in case of danger, for ruminating and for food supplements. The only remaining hardwood floodplain in the Netherlands is located here , on an area of 10 hectares. The development of the area began in 1993 to be closer to nature by removing the summer dykes and relocating the agricultural areas behind the winter dykes. The year-round free-living grazers, after having completely dispensed with human intervention at the beginning, are now at least monitored in terms of the population size and interventions are made in the event of diseases such as laminitis . The Millingerwaard is visited by around 100,000 visitors a year, who have a tea garden there as a fixed point of contact.

Ooijpolder / Duffel

Düffel and Ooijpolder (the latter lies west of the Düffel) form a grassland stretching on both sides of the German-Dutch border, which offers wintering space for around 70,000 Arctic geese. There are mainly the white- fronted goose , the bean goose and the native gray goose . The landscape of the Düffel, which was historically characterized by orchards , pollarded willows and hedges , has become rare due to intensive agriculture. Since 1981 around 3800 of the 6000 hectares of the Düffel on the German side in the municipalities of Kleve and Kranenburg have been designated as a nature reserve Düffel - Kellener Altrhein and Flussmarschen . On these areas, extensive agriculture is brought into harmony with nature conservation . The duffel is of great value to many endangered bird species in the rural landscape. In addition to the meadow birds, a large number of songbird species inhabit the richly structured landscape, but birds of prey and water bird species can also be found in suitable places. In addition, the duffel is an important area of distribution in North Rhine-Westphalia for highly endangered dragonfly species, such as the southern rush damsel . Since 1996, breeding white storks can also be observed in the Düffel .

The Düffel nature reserve has been looked after by volunteers for several decades and, since 1998, also by employees of the NABU nature reserve in Kranenburg .

With its proximity to the Dutch city of Nijmegen, the area has become a magnet for Dutch and German visitors; With around one million visitors a year, it is the most frequented part of the "de Gelderse Poort" nature reserve.

Kranenburg break

The Kranenburger Bruch nature reserve is an approximately 115 hectare fen area in the municipality of Kranenburg, which has regained its original character after reclamation . There are wet meadows and a fen where godwit and other waders can be found.

The Kranenburger Bruch belongs to the lowest point in the Düffel region. The water level was originally so high that a fen formed there, on which wet meadows, reeds, tall perennials, woody trees and alder forests formed.

After Kranenburg was founded in 1294, new residents moved in. At that time the alder forests were cleared. Dutch “Broekers” received the order from the then count to drain the land so that it could be used for agriculture. In 1930, improved drainage was carried out, which made arable farming possible. The intensification of agriculture afterwards made many areas uneconomical. These fell broke. Flora and fauna, as it were, recaptured their lost territory. In this way, the reclamation was destroyed again.

Interested parties made the authorities aware of the beauty and values of this region. This led to the Kranenburger Bruch being designated as a nature reserve in 1985. It is looked after by NABU .

The Kranenburger Bruch, which lies between Kranenburg and Nütterden on the B 9 , is 2.2 kilometers long and 400 to a maximum of 750 meters wide. On the north side it is bounded by the wall water on Bruchsen Straße and on the south side by the slope that forms the boundary of the break ground. The moor water flows in parallel. This is the most important drainage point in the vein. The Hornderichstraße (Nütterden) borders on the east side and the B 504 (Kranenburg) on the west side . The largest part is flat terrain, which is about 11 meters above sea level. On the south side it rises to about 15 meters. In the middle, a lake of around 250 by 400 meters has been created by excavating the embankment for the B 504. 14 species of fish are exposed for anglers. The path to this lake is closed and only accessible to members of this fishing club. The Kranenburger Bruch is criss-crossed with drainage ditches from northeast to southwest.

There is a wall watering in the north. The bog irrigation is regularly cleaned so that the excess water can drain away.

A hiking trail runs parallel to the B9 through the Veen. If you put it back to the west, you will see a wet meadow, a reed bed, the alder forest and a tall herbaceous area one after the other. Then these flora species show up again and again. Before Erlenbruchwald located on a Leitgraben with Kopfweiden the only residential building in Kranenburgerstrasse break.

There is a nature trail. Eight text panels provide information about the Bruch and its residents.

Salmorth

NSG Salmorth at Schenkenschanz

The Salmorth nature reserve is located on the 1088 hectare Salmorth peninsula , which has been a district of Kleve with around 30 inhabitants since January 1, 1969. There you will find a rare softwood meadow and larger wet meadows .

Rijnstrangen

Rijnstrangen is located on the Oude Rijn. Parts of it are swampy areas with large reeds.

Building

Worth seeing are the Fort Pannerden and a steam pumping station on the Oude Rijn.

The fort was built between 1869 and 1871 and was part of the Dutch Waterline , a military defense line. It was " occupied " by Krakern in 2000 and 2006 .