Kleine Weerd

Just south of Maastricht, along the Meuse a green landscape of grasslands, shrubs and flowers. Semi-paved paths wind through the vegetation of the Kleine Weerd. It looks very natural, but this has not always been the case. Until the 1990s, a large part of this area was used as farmland.

A remnant of an old Meuse island
The course of the Meuse River ( Meuse ) used to run differently here than it does today. Around 1840, a channel of the river flowed around an island. Part of what is now the Kleine Weerd is a remnant of that former Meuse island.

Later, the ‘ Meuse ’ was altered to make the river more navigable. The course changed and part of the island disappeared. Nevertheless, traces of the old river course can still be found in the landscape. The name ‘weerd’ fits this description well: it is an old term for low-lying land beside a river.

From farmland to nature
For a long time, the Kleine Weerd consisted mainly of agricultural land. Until 1994, parts of the area were used intensively as farmland. After that, development began to transform it into the nature reserve it is today. Limburgs Landschap manages the area and also uses large grazers as part of its management programme.

Konik horses and Galloway cattle graze in the area, preventing it from becoming completely overgrown with shrubs and trees. This allows grasslands, rougher vegetation and shrubs to coexist. Many different plants thrive in this varied landscape, which is also home to a wide variety of butterflies, amongst other species.

The start of the Maasbeemden
The Kleine Weerd forms part of the Maasbeemden, a series of nature reserves along the eastern bank of the Meuse. From Maastricht, this green area extends via the Pietersplas towards the Eijsder Beemden.

The river continues to play a key role in this. During high water, parts of the area can flood, transforming the landscape once again. The Kleine Weerd thus demonstrates how the ‘ Meuse ’ and the management of Het Limburgs Landschap together form a landscape that is constantly in flux.