The Joseph Zwaenepoel Wilderness Reserve

The "Joseph Zwaenepoel Wilderness Reserve", named after the forest engineer, now retired, who instigated it in 1983.

In concrete terms, this is 230 ha left to fend for themselves, where any form of forest management is excluded and where natural processes dispense with human intervention. The purpose of this integral reserve is twofold: it allows rare species to grow and, under high scientific supervision, it promotes the study of the spontaneous development of a forest environment left to itself.

In 2017, 270 ha of the Sonian Forest, or 6% of its territory, were inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. This classification focuses specifically on the wilderness reserves of Grippensdelle, Joseph Zwaenepoel (p.) and Ticton, all plots that foresters have not maintained for several decades. Diseased trees are not felled, fallen wood is not removed, and nothing is planted for a return to the primary state. These parts of the Sonian Islands have been recognized as part of a series of 78 remarkable beech forests located in 12 European countries (Belgium, Slovakia, Albania, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Ukraine, Austria, Romania, Slovenia and Spain).

Renaissance