Submitted by Antoinette Collazo on the 2024 Winter ENGL program in Netherlands…
This week we ventured to De Hogue Veluwe National Park in Arnhem to discuss the park’s strategies being used to combat the impacts of climate change. This park specifically, works to maintain regions of their land that contain each stage of ecological succession. Because of this, it is easy to see how climate change, and other issues the park encounters, can harm all phases of an ecosystem. Our guide also informed us of the importance of the Mouflon, a type of sheep native to the area, and how the park’s population had been hunted nearly to extinction by an invasive wolf pack. The pack of wolves is suspected to have invaded the park via holes in the perimeter fences due to vandalization. With wolves being a protected endangered species in the Netherlands, resolving this issue became very complicated but the park still has found ways to protect their remaining Muoflon flock from these predators. This photo was taken of our class during our hike through the park. (Submitted on January 21, 2024)