A small Natura 2000 area in Gelderland restoring a historic kampen landscape
Stelkampsveld
Stelkampsveld is a small Natura 2000 protected area in the eastern Netherlands, located in the municipality of Lochem in the province of Gelderland, between the villages of Barchem and Borculo. Together with directly adjacent parcels, it covers roughly 102 hectares and is almost entirely owned by the Dutch nature management organizations Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten.
The site is designed to restore and conserve a traditional "kampenlandschap," a centuries-old cultural landscape pattern of scattered enclosed fields, arable land known as essen, meadows, hedgerows, woodland patches, heathland, and small pools called vennen. After farmland was converted to nature at the turn of the millennium, conservation managers removed plantations of drained pine woodland and rewetted the soil, aiming to recreate the landscape character that existed around 1850.
Stelkampsveld holds particular importance for its rare plant species, including the large fly orchid and the highly unusual moss Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides, while its combination of heath, fen, and woodland also supports distinctive bog vegetation such as parnassia. Although modest in size, it functions as part of the broader Natura 2000 network in Gelderland and contributes to habitat protection under the European Habitats Directive.
