Nature reserve: Ankeveense Plassen

Present in and around the Ankeveen Lakes
For a few weeks, we were part of a team responsible for removing medium-sized trees and shrubs from the legakkers(reed beds/islands) in the Ankeveen Lakes. The aim of this work was to preserve biodiversity.

Remembrance of peat extraction
The Ankeveen Lakes form a maze of peat cuttings, reed beds (legakkers) and wide open waters that originated during the period of peat extraction. Today, peat is no longer extracted, and the area has become a home to many different species of plants and animals.

To ensure that these plants and animals retain their habitat, certain areas of young regrowth are removed, allowing ecological succession to restart.

What equipment did we use?
For this project, we used our WK220 NG-5, a 22-ton amphibious excavator. The WK220 NG-5 was equipped with a cutter head to remove young regrowth and reed vegetation. For heavier work, a tree shear was used.

The Ankeveen Lakes are very water-rich, with reed beds (legakkers) that have poor bearing capacity. This makes the WK220 NG-5 the ideal machine to deploy. With this machine, no mats or ground protection are required that could otherwise cause deep rutting. The tracks left by our WK220 NG-5 recover quickly thanks to its low ground pressure. As a result, our presence in the area will not remain visible.

Together, we go further

This project was carried out on behalf of Van Oostrum Westbroek B.V. Together, we combined our expertise and deployed the right equipment in the right locations.

And the result: the Ankeveen Lakes area is now ready for the upcoming breeding season.