The Empese en Tondense Heide is a nature reserve of about 260 hectare that – contrary to what the name “heide” (= heathland) suggests - consists of pools, marshes, flowery grassland and just a few smaller patches of heath and pine trees.

In the year if 1929 Natuurmonumenten (a Dutch society for preservation of nature monuments) bought two heathland sites to save them from reclamation. Later on they restored this relatively new nature reserve i to it’s natural state. The restoration was done in the last couple of years where ditches were cut off and water was redirected. This meant that an agricultural land was transformed from grasslands to a more wetlands type of soil.