Van NLO tot NVL, 35 jaar georganiseerde libellenstudie in Nederland

Wasscher, M.T., 2006. From NLO to NVL, 35 years of organized dragonfly study in The Netherlands. Brachytron 9(1&2): 21-32. Before 1970 some people in The Netherlands were studying dragonflies, but there was no higher organisation with newsletters and/or meetings. Since the start of the NLO on 7 March 1970, three periods of ‘official’ dragonfly activity can be recognised. These periods were separated by intervals of lesser activity, where no meetings were organised and few, if any, official newsletters were published. In those intervening periods, there were always youth federation members studying dragonflies, and those dragonfly lovers would then start the next period of official dragonfly study in The Netherlands. The first period commenced with the formation of the NLO during 1970, under the leadership of Bastiaan Kiauta. This period ended with the foundation of the international SIO in 1974. The second period lasted from 1979 to 1992 and was started by Marian Verdonk, with Marcel Wasscher gradually taking over her tasks. The final period, which is still on-going, started in 1994, though already in 1992 youth federation members of the NJN had started a ‘Dragonfly Project’ which would result in increased interest in dragonflies in The Netherlands. In 1997 both the NLO and the Dragonfly Project merged into a new dragonfly organisation, the NVL. In 2002 the Dutch Atlas was published, a milestone in dragonfly study in The Netherlands. Over the last decade, dragonflies have become an important group for nature study and nature management. This is illustrated by an official Red List, two field guides in Dutch, 22 regional and provincial study groups and over 400 members of the NVL, some of whom are also professional dragonfly workers.