Stimulus word: "traffic safety" - felling action in Herrsching

Created: 01/25/2022, 09:10

By: Andrea Graepel

The trunks of the old willows to the left of the Kienbach are rotting through.

According to experts, they have to be felled.

The neighbors suspect other reasons behind the felling.

© gra

The word "traffic safety" has become an emotive word in Herrsching.

When it comes to tree felling, people hide behind it, says Christine Voit.

She sees it even more as a "manslaughter argument" that has been used again in the ongoing felling of municipal trees.

Herrsching – As reported, tree felling work began yesterday in Herrsching.

A continuation of what was started in the spring of last year.

Three silver willows on the Kienbach between Fischergasse and Kienbachstraße were also affected.

Christine Voit and Wolfgang Aigner have also lived near the bridge since 2014. A lot has been built since then, the group of trees on the bridge is not only the last green oasis for them.

Voit and Aigner are geographers and studied forestry as a minor.

The two fear that the tree felling is related to flood protection, that the creek "should be forced into a corset", according to Wolfgang Aigner.

It's the trees that strengthened the creek bed.

And the last time the Kienbach burst its banks was in the 19th century.

"I'm no longer old enough to chain myself to trees," says Christine Voit. But she wants to fight for the trees. When she and a neighbor from Kienbachstraße, Isolde Haverkamp, ​​spoke to the arborists during the first safety measures, they too said that the trees could survive.

In March 2021, the willow crowns were cut away after a tree inspector drew attention to the condition of the trees. An expert opinion was then drawn up that confirmed that traffic safety was no longer guaranteed. There it is again, that word. “The tree trunk is hollow from below,” says Franziska Kalz, environmental officer at Herrsching town hall. “You can hear that when you knock on it.” She assures us that it is not the intention to clear the sticks. And maybe the trunks of the willows would also be kept high enough for the insects to develop further.

Christine Voit and Isolde Haverkamp refer to numerous birds and bats that inhabit the ivy-covered pastures.

“There are already many here.

The winter isn't that severe.

I can see them from my balcony,” says Isolde Haverkamp.

Last year, the security measure was carried out later.

That was also the reason why the trees were only trimmed, explains Franziska Kalz.

"Because the planting and breeding season had already started." Arborist Sebastian Singer, whose company carried out the pruning at the time, confirms that this work was only intended to bridge the gap: "I said directly that it is not responsible to leave the trees standing .

The rotten spots have continued to develop.” He would have therefore urgently advised to fell them, but well before the settling and breeding season.

Work began yesterday on trees along the lake shore.

This is followed by the pastures on the Kienbach.

Fungi at the base of the trunk of these willows would eat up the trunk, says Leo Gruber.

He is not only a municipal councilor (BGH), but also a freelance arborist.

"They won't live much longer," he says.

Even if they sprouted again last year, that is not a sign that they are vital.

"These are simply old pastures that don't have the space to grow any larger at this point." Like the old pasture on the old sports field.

Leo Gruber is not aware of any connection between the felling and flood protection, he assures.

The green oasis is not in danger for him either: "There is still an ash tree, and there is also undergrowth that is growing up again," he says confidently.

The municipal council also believes that the willows will sprout again if the rootstocks remain - which, according to Franziska Kalz, they should.

Only the neighbors lack the right faith.

"Wherever you look, it's just being cut down," regrets Isolde Haverkamp.

She also thinks the flood protection is behind the action.

"The trees get in the way." Who should they endanger, she and Christine Voit ask.

The trunks barely reached across the road.

Emotion stands against expertise.