Dune heaths in Thy

Facts

Denmark's first national park

By Bo Fritzbøger, Dr.phil. (9 stories)

The dune heath land that stretches along large areas of the Jutland west coast is a natural feature of the landscape. Even though the vegetation has grown by itself, people have been helping to keep it under control for thousands of years. The local farmers have let their sheep graze freely on the heath to find whatever food they can. This has helped keep the plants in check. It has also helped to preserve the dune heath landscape when in the 19th century hardy plants such as lyme grass and marram grass were grown on the bare dunes to combat drifting sand.

Public place

Selected entry

From nature reserve to national park

Story written by Bo Fritzbøger

Time / Periode 2008

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The dune heaths in Thy were chosen as Denmark's first official national park in 2008. Ever since the first national park, Yellowstone in the USA, opened in 1872, national parks have been common in other countries. In Denmark, the establishment of small nature reserves gathered speed after the Nature Conservation Act was passed in 1917. Throughout the 1960s, politicians considered whether to establish special areas of natural beauty, such as the lakes at Tystrup-Bavelse on Zealand, as protected nature reserves. However, nature conservation in general was given higher priority than identifying special locations. Not until the present millennium did the concept of nature reserves become a reality in Denmark. With a contemporary twist from nature reserve" to "national park". "