Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland ( en, Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands), also known as Vereniging Natuurmonumenten, is a Dutch
nature conservation organization founded in 1905 by
Jacobus Pieter Thijsse and
Eli Heimans, that buys, protects, and manages nature reserves in the Netherlands. It is a member of the
European Environmental Bureau.
The first area that the organization purchased in 1905 was to protect the Naardermeer, southeast of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
. It had 355 sites under its management in 2010, with a total area of . The largest is De Wieden (); the smallest is Fort Ellewoutsdijk ().
The organization also owns 1,700 buildings, of which 250 were provincial or national monuments. In 2013, the organization had 735,000 members and was headquartered in
's-Graveland.
The organization was awarded the
Gouden Ganzenveer in 1986.
References
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{{Authority control
1905 establishments in the Netherlands
Environmental organisations based in the Netherlands
Environmental organizations established in 1905
Nature conservation organisations based in Europe