Denmark’s second national nature park opens Sunday in Gribskov, where 1,300 hectares of forest are being converted into fenced wild nature. Two demonstrations have been registered with police ahead of the inauguration.
Environment Minister Maria Reumert Gjerding of SF performs the official opening on Sunday, DR reports. The project turns part of Gribskov in North Zealand into Naturnationalpark Gribskov.
According to North Zealand Police, two demonstrations were registered before the event. One is organized by the association Fri Natur under the slogan no to fences. The other is arranged by animal activist Per Øxenholt, known as a critic of Molslaboratoriet.
Inside the park, large grazing animals are meant to create more natural ecosystems and raise biodiversity. Steers, meaning castrated bulls, and red deer will graze year round. Moose are to be released in the area next year, per DR.
To keep the animals inside, the Danish Nature Agency has erected a fence 22 kilometers long and 2.5 meters high. The fence includes 25 gates for the public. The park covers roughly 25 percent of Gribskov.
Fence damaged more than 20 times
Forest ranger Søren Bo Oldenburg of Naturstyrelsen Nordsjælland says the fence has been vandalized more than 20 times. In 13 cases the damage was serious, with the fence cut or gates destroyed. He calls the acts far over the line and notes that destroying other people’s property is not allowed.
Oldenburg says he understands that change can create resistance or skepticism among some locals. He stresses that access remains open around the clock, as visitors only have to pass through a gate. He adds that people should always keep their distance from large animals.
Asked whether it is paradoxical to build a large fence in the name of wilder nature, the forest ranger says the fence is the precondition for the project. In his assessment, the natural processes inside the fence will be wilder than outside it.
Local opposition
Bodil Jørgensen, who lives in the area and chairs the board of Fri Natur, says the group will attend the event to show dissatisfaction. Her objection concerns how the nature is being managed. She says access for ordinary citizens becomes limited or dangerous.
Jørgensen underlines that Fri Natur has nothing to do with the vandalism. She also wants wilder nature with more biodiversity, but not the large animals and the fence. She says visitors must think twice before entering an enclosure with animals inside.
She rejects the argument that critics can simply go elsewhere in the forest. The area being converted is the central part of Gribskov, she says. Moving between the northern and southern sections is difficult without crossing it.
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The first Danish national nature park preceded Gribskov in the same program. The Gribskov site is the second to be formally inaugurated, according to DR’s reporting.
