Forest and woodland: habitat fragmentation

The forest and woodland in the Netherlands consists of a few large forests and many small woods

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Most plots designated as forest in the Netherlands are smaller than 10 ha (left-hand figure). Together, these account for only 11% of the amount of forest in the Netherlands (right-hand figure). There are 53 forests larger than1000 ha and these account for about 57% of Dutch forest.

Historically there used to be many small woodlands in the Netherlands. Most were to supply wood to farmers, or were on land that was unsuitable for agriculture. In the twentieth century the afforestation of heathland resulted in large forest complexes, primarily of conifers.