Memmingen city council majority for “forest before game” resolution

Memmingen - At the renewed consultation in the city council at the beginning of the week about the end of the granting of hunting rights to private tenants, no one could refer to insufficient information. In the city council meeting on September 20 (we reported) a resolution on this was postponed by a majority for precisely this reason. In the end, however, the committee decided with a clear majority that the private hunting leases should expire at the end of March 2022; only five city councilors voted against it.

In a debate lasting more than two hours, the pros and cons were discussed in detail. Already between the first meeting in September and the current decision, numerous statements, reports and arguments were published between private hunting tenants and the municipal forestry office. Memmingen's Lord Mayor Manfred Schilder had also scheduled another forest inspection with city councils, hunters and experts on October 4th in order to collect and view detailed information on site.

Thomas Schuhmaier, Legal Director and Head of the Department for Public Safety and Order, opened the debate by pointing out that the legislature only allows hunting leases to be granted to private individuals if the silvicultural objectives have been met. However, this is not the case in the municipal forests in Memmingen. The clearly too strong browsing due to the clearly too high hoofed game population urgently requires a change in the previous hunting management. According to a study by the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, the number of accidents involving wild animals is also clearly related.

Memmingen's forest office manager Stefan Honold provided new calculations of the foreseeable costs of the planned takeover of the hunts by the forest office itself.

He also ruled out the need for additional staff in the forestry office.

The hunting time of the urban forest workers is not working time.

Experience from Immenstadt

He received support from his (unrelated) official colleague and name colleague Gerhard Honold, who heads the municipal forest office in Immenstadt. After nine years of experience with hunting on his own in the city, the head of the forestry office in Immenstadt was able to deliver practical results. He also reported initial resistance from private hunting tenants, but his conclusion so far has been clearly positive. Even if the marketing of the game meat in Immenstadt only roughly covers the costs incurred, the costs for complex care measures could be significantly reduced. In addition, they have received state funds from the so-called mountain forest offensive and funding from the natural regeneration program.

In addition to the clearly more favorable cost structures, the biological result is also extremely positive for nature.

A natural rejuvenation of all tree species has meanwhile been achieved and the quality of the habitat for the deer has also increased significantly.

This can be read from the state of health of the deer and the higher game weight.

Biodiversity and species diversity have clearly been strengthened.

Part of emotional debate

In the sometimes very emotional debate, some city councils tried to propose a compromise. After that, not all four private hunting leases were to expire, but rather one or two that had previously produced "acceptable" results should be left as it was. In the debate, however, it was argued from various sides that the judgment category “wearable” in the browsing report is not sufficient for “exemplary management” as required by the legislature and that climate change demands it on as large and many areas as possible. The compromise proposal that was submitted ultimately only found twelve votes in favor and was rejected in favor of the administration's proposal for a resolution. From April next year, there will be no more private hunting leases in the forests owned by the city. The hunters,Those who have operated these leases so far can still hunt in the district allocated by the Forestry Office using so-called “hunting permits”, which have a term of one year.