Het Groninger Landschap

Het Groninger Landschap is one of the twelve Provincial Landschappen (provincial landscape conservation foundations) in the Netherlands, dedicated to protecting nature, landscape and heritage in the province of Groningen. Founded on 14 March 1936, the organisation acquires and manages natural areas, historic estates and monumental buildings so that their ecological and scenic value is preserved or enhanced. It is affiliated with the umbrella foundation LandschappenNL. The foundation's origins lie in the loss of the Tolberter Petten peat area to reclamation, which prompted the then King's Commissioner J.P. Fockema Andreae to ask Natuurmonumenten chairman P.G. van Tienhoven to help establish a Groningen counterpart to similar organisations elsewhere. The name was originally intended to be 'Groningsch Landschap' but was changed to 'Groninger Landschap' on linguistic grounds. Today Het Groninger Landschap manages more than 8,300 hectares of polders, salt marshes, forests and water, and owns dozens of monumental buildings. Its areas host a wide variety of plants and animals, from the rare marsh gentian to the protected badger. The organisation is a stichting (foundation) with a professional office in the villa 'De Vennen' on the Rijksstraatweg in Haren, supported by more than 200 volunteers active in its reserves and buildings. It has more than 30 sites in ownership and management, and since 1 January 2007 also owns a number of windmills in the province. Its shop is located at the Reitdiep visitor centre. Communication with supporters — called 'beschermers' (protectors), numbering over 17,500 in 2009 — takes place largely through the quarterly magazine Golden Raand, named after a metaphor in the Groningen anthem 'Grönnens Laid'. Het Groninger Landschap is not a commercial company but a non-profit conservation brand with a public-facing identity, visitor centres, a webshop and fundraising activities such as the Groninger Natuurfonds. It celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2026, marking nine decades of work for Groningen's nature and landscape.

Het Groninger Landschap was founded on 14 March 1936. The first initiative came in 1935 from the then King's Commissioner (Commissaris van de Koningin) J.P. Fockema Andreae, who asked the then chairman of Natuurmonumenten, P.G. van Tienhoven, whether it was possible to establish a Groninger Landschap in imitation of similar organisations elsewhere. The immediate cause was the reclamation of the Tolberter Petten, which had destroyed an attractive peat area. Van Tienhoven began making enquiries and various prominent administrators in Groningen, including several mayors and the biologist Brouwer, expressed enthusiasm. A meeting was then held in 1936 at which it was decided to found the foundation. Originally the foundation was to be called 'Groningsch Landschap', but after legal historian Anne Siberdinus de Blécourt argued in his dies address at Leiden University that on linguistic grounds it should be 'Groninger Ommelanden' rather than 'Groningsche Ommelanden', Commissioner Fockema Andreae had the name changed by analogy to 'Groninger Landschap' during the founding meeting. The chairman of the new foundation was also the aforementioned King's Commissioner. An important driving force behind the foundation for decades was notary Sebastiaan Mattheus Sigismund de Ranitz, who was secretary-treasurer from 1939 to 1973 and then chairman until 1979. He championed the purchase of estates including their buildings (such as the Ennemaborg and the Coendersborg), mindful that buildings also cost money, as expressed in his saying 'Olle hoezen en jonge vraauwlu binnen spoarpotten, je stoppen 't geld der in, en 't komt der nooit weer oet' (old houses and young women are savings pots, you put money in and it never comes out again). When purchasing land he often arranged financing through his network. He is also known for the Notarisbosje, which he had planted in a meander of the Reitdiep near Schilligeham and which his son transferred to Het Groninger Landschap in 2025. Other prominent figures were chairmen Edzo Hommo Ebels and Rubertus Jacob Clevering and biologist Fop Inne Brouwer, who maintained the weekly column 'Levende natuur' for the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden for 60 years. Over time the foundation purchased many estates. One of the largest purchases was the Ennemaborg in 1964 for nearly 2 million guilders. From the second half of the 1970s, large areas around the Zuidlaardermeer were also acquired, including the shorelands. The largest purchase in its history was made in 1981. After the foundation (after long delay and much internal debate) finally sided with other environmental groups (the Waddenvereniging being the most important) against the construction of the outside-dike Dollardkanaal, and this plan was rejected in 1974, the foundation together with Natuurmonumenten was able to buy the southern Dollard salt marshes and the eastern mudflats of the Dollard from the city of Groningen's Stadsbezittingen; in total 4.1 million hectares of outside-dike area. In the same year Het Groninger Landschap pioneered the introduction of large grazers on the Ennemaborg estate. Konik horses were brought from Poland to the estate to graze there year-round. In 1983 the Stichting Landschapsonderhoud was split off from Het Groninger Landschap; this is now the foundation Landschapsbeheer Groningen. Organisation and working method: Het Groninger Landschap is a foundation (stichting). In 2009 it had more than 17,500 benefactors, called 'beschermers' (protectors). Communication with them takes place largely through the quarterly magazine Golden Raand. The name of this magazine refers to a metaphor in the Groningen anthem 'Grönnens Laid'. Besides a professional office in the villa 'De Vennen' on the Rijksstraatweg in Haren, the foundation's staff includes more than 200 volunteer workers active in the various sites and buildings. Het Groninger Landschap owns and manages more than 30 sites. In addition, since 1 January 2007 the Landschap also owns a number of windmills in the province of Groningen. The Landschap's shop is at the Reitdiep visitor centre. From 1972 the foundation had its own magazine named Groninger Landschap. In 1977 the foundation joined the magazine Noorderbreedte of the Waddenvereniging and members received this magazine. However, the bond with the support base became smaller due to the more generic character of this magazine and membership slowly declined. After some members cancelled their membership because of the activist character of some articles in Noorderbreedte, Het Groninger Landschap ended this cooperation in 1984. Since then it has published its own magazine Golden Raand. Possessions of Het Groninger Landschap include: Bolmeer, Coendersborg, Dr. Hommesbos, Dollard (together with Natuurmonumenten), Reiderhoeve, Breebaart, Dollardkwelders, Eendenkooi Nieuw Onrust, Ennemaborg, Feddema's plas, Helwerder Wierden, Het Hemrik, Iwema-steenhuis, Leekstermeer, Lettelberterpetten, Nanninga's Bosch, Overbos Fraeylemaborg, Punt van Reide, Reitdiepgebied, Bezoekerscentrum Reitdiep, Koningslaagte, Harssensbosch, Bourtange, Abeltjeshuis, Bakovensmee, Waddencentrum Pieterburen, Wierdekerkhof Vliedorp (Ol Weem), Zuidlaardermeergebied, Kropswolderbuitenpolder, Leinwijk, Oosterpolder, Oostpolder, Onnerpolder (with the Harener Wildernis), Westerbroekstermadepolder, Kloo…

• 2026

  Celebrates 90 years; starts Aanvalsplan Grutto in the Hunzedal.

• 2025

  Notarisbosje transferred to Het Groninger Landschap by De Ranitz's son.

• 2009

  More than 17,500 benefactors ('beschermers').

• 2007

  Acquires a number of windmills in Groningen on 1 January.

• 1984

  Ends cooperation with Noorderbreedte; starts own magazine Golden Raand.

• 1983

  Stichting Landschapsonderhoud split off (now Landschapsbeheer Groningen).

• 1981

  Largest purchase: southern Dollard salt marshes and eastern mudflats (4.1 million hectares) with Natuurmonumenten; introduces konik horses on Ennemaborg.

• 1977

  Joins the magazine Noorderbreedte of the Waddenvereniging.

• 1973

  De Ranitz becomes chairman (until 1979).

• 1972

  Foundation starts its own magazine, Groninger Landschap.

• 1964

  Purchase of the Ennemaborg estate for nearly 2 million guilders.

• 1939

  S.M.S. de Ranitz becomes secretary-treasurer.

• 1936

  Het Groninger Landschap founded on 14 March.

• 1935

  J.P. Fockema Andreae initiates the founding of a Groningen landscape organisation.

Non-profit provincial nature conservation organisation; protects nature, landscape and heritage in Groningen through acquisition and management.

• Nature reserves

  More than 30 sites including polders, salt marshes, forests and water.

• Historic estates

  Estates such as Ennemaborg and Coendersborg.

• Visitor centres

  Reitdiep visitor centre and Waddencentrum Pieterburen.

• Windmills

  A number of windmills in Groningen owned since 2007.

• Golden Raand magazine

  Quarterly magazine for supporters.

• Webshop

  Online shop offering gifts and products.

1. 1Home - Het Groninger Landschapgroningerlandschap.nl
2. 2Het Groninger Landschap - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Het Groninger Landschap - Wikipedianl.wikipedia.org