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Protest in the Fechenheim forest: The area should be cleared by the police
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
The Fechenheimer forest in Frankfurt am Main may be cleared for the controversial expansion of Autobahn 66.
The Hessian Administrative Court in Kassel announced that the partial clearing can begin.
He rejected the urgent application from an environmental protection group (AZ. 2 B 48/23.T).
The decision cannot be appealed.
Around 2.5 hectares of forest have to be cleared to close the gap on the A66 between Hanau and Frankfurt am Main.
Planning permission has been in place for the sections in the Frankfurt Borsigallee area and the Riederwald Tunnel section for years.
A planning approval decision has existed for 15 years.
In the summer of 2022, a female Heldbok was discovered laying eggs on an oak tree in the clearing area.
The beetle species is under strict protection.
An expert opinion that was obtained suggested that during the clearing season that runs until February 28, 2023, initially only those areas should be cleared where colonization of the Heldbock could be ruled out.
The environmentalists sued in court for a ban on tree felling.
They argued that the partial clearing proposed in the report also violated the Species Protection Act.
The Kassel judges did not follow this argument.
It cannot be assumed that the beetle chooses other tree species as breeding trees besides oaks and that the beetle therefore also uses other deciduous trees in the forest for this purpose.
The concern that the isolation of the trees that are exempt from clearing will lead to the trees dying due to drought and wild throwing and thus there is an increased risk of beetle larvae being killed is unfounded.
There have been protests against the construction project for years.
Closing the gap is intended to connect the A66 with the A661.
The area to be cleared is 230 meters long and up to 140 meters wide.
Environmental activists have been occupying the forest since September 2021.
Some of them live there in tree houses.
The Frankfurt Administrative Court recently confirmed a general decree that prohibits entering the area of the planned clearing.
It could not be the last procedure in the case: an environmentalist failed on Monday with an urgent application before the administrative court in Frankfurt.
He had requested access to his tree house where he lives.
His lawyer announced an appeal against the decision.
An imminent clearance had already been expected last week, and the forestry department closed off an area of about seven hectares of the forest.
However, the police announced that they would wait with the eviction until all court decisions had been made.
It is unclear when exactly she intends to start the eviction.
The operation will result in the A66 being blocked.
Around 1000 trees are to be felled.
The expansion is scheduled to be completed in 2031.
whale/AFP