All Dutch forest visitor centres to close due to funding

The Dutch state forestry service plans to close all seven of its visitor centres, saying it needs to prioritise spending on managing nature reserves.

The centres, at De Pelen, Almeerderhout, the Oostvaardersplassen, the Schoorlse Duinen, the Sallandse Heuvelrug, the Drents-Friese Wold and the Boomkroonpad on the Hondsrug, draw around 1.3 million visitors a year but are not breaking even.

They were funded by the central government until 2014. When that subsidy ended, the forestry service took over the centres because of their public value, but has lost money on them ever since.

As long as the cost of managing nature reserves outstrips the subsidy it receives, the organisation said, its priority is to run those areas as well as possible – partly because good management helps restore biodiversity and ease the nitrogen problem.

The 23 staff and 350 volunteers at the centres will not face compulsory redundancies,, and the service will decide on a building-by-building basis what happens next. Public information and contact with visitors will continue in a different form, closer to the reserves and backed by digital services.

The centres are due to close on January 1, 2027, though the one at Almeerderhout will shut on July 26 as few people have visited since its café closed. The plan is not yet final: it is with the works council, which will give its advice by October 1.