Amsterdamse Bos is struggling with overdue maintenance and too little budget: ‘Structurally more needed’
Overdue maintenance in the Amsterdam forest has risen sharply in recent years, write aldermen Jakob Wedemeijer (SP) of Public Space and Green and Egbert de Vries (PvdA) of Traffic, Water and Air Quality in a letter to the council, in which the status of business of the forest is made and plans are shared to get the popular recreation area in the beginning of the city back to order.
The forest is visited ‘intensively’ and ‘no extra structural budget has been released for management and maintenance since the 1980s, there is actually less available due to various cutbacks’, the administrators conclude. In addition, the budget for the Amsterdamse Bos is ‘smaller than that of Het Twiske and Spaarnwoude’. And in other recreational areas, the costs for management and maintenance are ‘entirely for the account of Amsterdam.
Important maintenance is needed on ‘bridges, paths and greenery’, a speech by the municipality. For example, the bottom of the forest is less firm due to ‘wetting and drying out’ and leads to the risk of them falling over in strong winds. Dredging work is required to better drain the water.
In addition, there is the problem of the tree disease ‘ash branch death’. “It concerns trees in the middle of the forest, but also trees along the paths and waterways,” according to the words. To ensure that visitors do not get ash branches on their heads, the trees have to be felled. And new trees have to be planted. An investigation is currently underway to determine what further maintenance is required.
7 million a year
In November of last year, a one-off 8 million euros was released for the Amsterdamse Bos. But that is not enough, conclude aldermen Wedemeijer and De Vries in their letter to the council. To be able to get rid of the basic overdue maintenance and to ‘build up the continuity of recreation, sport and education’, a structural amount of 7 million is needed on an annual basis. That can grow step by step, with 2030 as the end year.
It is expected that approximately 1 million euros can be collected annually at the park itself. In addition to the amount of fees at events can be paid by a parking charge in carrying out a money asking for cars to visit the park. The possible rental of some real estate locations in the forest can also bring money into the cash. But then there is still 6 million left that has to be taken from somewhere else.
The budget coverage plan still needs to be worked out in more detail, but the first ideas are there. For example, possibilities are being sought for closer cooperation for management and maintenance with the province of North Holland, the municipality of Amstelveen and the Rijnland Water Board, the water board that is responsible for half of the waterways in the forest.
In addition, the municipality hopes to earn extra money for maintenance with a wood auction. “The trees that we have to cut are all in the Amsterdam forest, many of them were blown over by a storm. Those are huge tribes,” says the municipality. “On June 18, wood from the forest will be auctioned, so that interested parties can make products.”