De toegankelijkheid van Jufferswaardin Renkum : bezoekaantallen, burgerparticipatie en communicatie

This report discusses the results of the stakeholder analysis and the amount of recreational visits that was counted in the Natura 2000 area of the Jufferswaard in the period 2018-2019. The Jufferswaard, a 31 ha floodplain in the municipality of Renkum, is an area where recreation can take place. There are 55,000 visits a year, mainly from residents of the neighbouring villages of Renkum and Heelsum. On average there are 150 visits per day, mainly between 12.00 and 14.00. Sundays are by far the busiest days. In the future, on a beautiful and dry Sunday in the second half of February, the Pilot Group will be able to count 1 hour between 15.00 and 16.00 of the outgoing visit at each entrance gate. Based on the key figures from this study, the annual visit can then be roughly estimated. This is an inexpensive way for the Pilot Group to monitor the annual visit. According to the Pilogroep (a group of active citizens), the accessibility of the walking paths could be improved. They also have wishes for the preservation of cultural history in the area. These wishes are not directly shared by the owner of the Jufferswaard: Staatsbosbeheer. Other stakeholders are also active: the municipality of Renkum, the province of Gelderland, the Vallei and Veluwe Water Board and the nearby Parenco paper factory. The stakeholder analysis looked at what wishes were involved and how much influence the various stakeholders have. The wishes for the area were explained on the basis of nature images consisting of different management. The inhabitants of the municipality of Renkum were also heard by means of a survey in which they were asked about their wishes, nature images and recreational motives. It appears that although the nature images of the most important stakeholders, the Pilot Group and Staatsbosbeheer, differ, a compromise can be reached on the wishes of the Jufferswaard. This requires an improvement in communication on both sides. For the Pilot Group it is important that they present an unambiguous vision to the other stakeholders, and forStaatsbosbheer it is important that they communicate more from the experience of nature, because this is closer to the image of nature of recreational users. In this way the tension we see in de Jufferswaard between a more hierarchical role for the manager, who has to comply with statutory agreements, and citizens’ initiatives that expect a more collaborative and responsive role or demand a more effective role for the managers and the government, can be resolved. A situation can then be created that leads to cooperation on the basis of communication, understanding and trust in which the Pilot Group is heard and in which Staatsbosbeheer can benefit from the involvement of the Pilot Group. This could ultimately lead to a kind of management covenant. It is very positive for the Pilot Group that it is deploying its waste disposal activities (and thus taking a great deal of the work out of the hands of Staatsbosbeheer as manager) to show that it is in the process of putting into practice one of the most important wishes of the inhabitants and of the stakeholders. Through a networking and cooperative management style, Staatsbosbeheer can fulfill the desired “experiencing nature together”. The results of this project can serve as an example for other Natura 2000 floodplains in the Netherlands with similar issues and tensions between management styles.