"Shaping the townscape": Old linden tree before felling

Created: 10/14/2022, 8:00 p.m

By: Silke Reinbold-Jandretzki

Should no longer be preserved: the old, mighty linden tree at the culture and conference center.

© ANDREAS MAYR

According to experts, an approximately 100-year-old linden tree at the culture and conference center can no longer be saved.

The tree that characterizes the townscape and has a trunk circumference of 2.94 meters is now to be felled.

Murnau

- A 100-year-old linden tree at the Murnau Culture and Conference Center is to be felled.

The municipal administration made the matter known at the meeting of the building committee.

The lime tree, it was said, was in a "desolate condition" and "cannot be saved".

A tree surveyor explained that it could remain standing if you cut it back significantly - there is talk of two to five years.

However, one sees no point in a torso and prefers to cut down the linden tree and plant a replacement.

Welf Probst (Free Voters) agrees with this assessment: "It's about time," says the tree officer of the Murnau municipal council - and makes it clear: "We're not making it easy for ourselves."

In the Tagblatt interview, Probst does not mince his words when it comes to the importance of the approximately 17.50 meter high linden tree, which last year had a trunk circumference of 2.94 meters and was once located in front of the reading hall: "It characterizes the townscape .” However, this is about road safety – there is a risk in strong winds.

Probst explains that the tree was already on a felling list in 2021, "we've been around here for a very, very long time and have said again and again: We'll try again".

Now he speaks of a “slow dying” and, as the responsible speaker, appeals for a new beginning – even if he is “sorry about that.

But putting money into it again and delaying the whole process makes no sense”.

The damage seems too massive, the list of suffering too long.

An extensive rotten spot at the base of the trunk is particularly striking.

Probst speaks, among other things, of "burn crust fungus" and massive rot, also on the roots.

In the crown area there are "heavy dead branches, dry branches have emerged".

In retrospect, he sees a change in the terrain in 1978 as a fatal mistake. Since then, the linden tree has stood in a depression into which water is running.

Tree consultant Probst makes it clear that he is not in favor of felling lightly.

"We have to preserve large, old trees wherever possible." A statement that he expressly also refers to construction projects where the giants "could get in the way".