AN ATLAS TO BRING TOGETHER ECO AND THE GRID
According to the plans, the Ecologische Hoofd Structuur (EHS, the
National Ecological Network) should be ready in 2018: a network
connecting areas of natural beauty in order to prevent animals and
plants from becoming extinct through isolation. Easier said than
done; the deadline is in danger of being missed. Lucas Zoutendijk
has spotted opportunities in the Dutch national grid that cuts right
through the cities and the countryside. The space around the pylons
and cables cannot be used for building, so that the high-voltage
lines up in the air draw a network of long, unused strips along the
ground as well. By creating the right circumstances here, these could
become corridors for plants and animals. In his atlas of the National
Ecological High-Voltage Network, Zoutendijk demonstrates how
two networks could be combined, and how the corridors could be
designed so that the animals will begin migrating.