relation: https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/3292/
title: Shaping a Saltmarsh
creator: Kiers, Wytze
description: While the region of North-East Fryslân is in socio-economic decline, a group of people from the village  Holwerd started an initiative called Holwerd aan Zee, with their goal to improve the socio-economic status of the village and add value to nearby nature. Part of the plan is the expansion of the saltmarsh east to the pier from which the ferry to Ameland departs, which would firstly become a purposeful place to deposit soil dredged from a fairway and secondly improve nature and tourism in the area. As a bonus, a saltmarsh could have a function as flood defence, decreasing costs for dike reinforcements. This thesis strives to find what experts think is the best way of enlarging the saltmarsh. The experts’ opinions are gathered during semi-structured interviews. Results show that the project should not do disproportional damage to either the cultural or the natural landscape, besides the UNESCO heritage status of the region should be preserved. The best way of enlarging the saltmarsh would be with use of brushwood dams, which fits in the cultural landscape. Moreover, as the dams  can be placed in a natural pattern, the influence on the natural landscape would be limited. There is however debate and uncertainty about the positive aspects of the saltmarsh concerning, among others, water safety, long term maintenance and the effects on nature in the area, moving the question from how to enlarge the saltmarsh, to whether the saltmarsh should be touched at all.
date: 2020
type: Thesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: text
language: en
identifier: https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/3292/1/Wytze%20Kiers_Shaping%20A%20Saltmarsh.pdf
identifier:   Kiers, Wytze  (2020) Shaping a Saltmarsh.  Bachelor thesis.