Lawsuit against extended gravel mining near Langen failed: In the Rhine-Main area it has been shown time and again that the Bannwald status does not offer a guarantee of preservation.
That was once a Bannwald: several hectares were cleared in winter on an area intended for sand and gravel mining in the Langen city forest. The regional council and courts have approved the lifting of the Bannwald status.
(Archive photo: Harald Sapper)
SOUTH HESSEN – “Bannwald is the highest protection category according to the Hessian Forest Act”: This is how the Darmstadt Regional Council explains this special status, which is supposed to reliably protect forest areas against deforestation. Actually. The city of Darmstadt is also hoping for better protection for the western forest by classifying it as a protected forest; The magistrate announced the application for this to the RP in January.
But the protection is full of holes – at least that’s what the Left parliamentary group in the state parliament laments. “The shrinking of the forests in the Rhine-Main area shows that the green-led regional council Darmstadt and the administrative court of Kassel apparently did not understand the seriousness of the situation”, explains the parliamentary managing director Torsten Felstehausen. Both should “finally set other priorities in their decisions. Otherwise there won’t be much that is particularly worth protecting. ”
The member of the state parliament criticizes a decision by the Hessian Administrative Court in February to dismiss two appeals by the environmental association BUND against the expansion of gravel mining in the Langen city forest – southeast of the Waldsee.
BANNWALD
In southern Hesse there is a forest on the boundaries of these cities and communities: Alsbach-Hähnlein, Babenhausen, Bickenbach, Bischofsheim, Darmstadt, Dreieich, Egelsbach, Kelsterbach, Langen, Lorsch, Lampertheim, Mainhausen, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Mühltal, Neu-Isenburg, Pfungstadt , Raunheim, Rüsselsheim, Seeheim-Jugenheim, Viernheim. (db)
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The RP had already approved the corresponding application from Sehring eight years ago. For 63.7 hectares of protected forest – this corresponds to eleven times the area of the Großer Woog in Darmstadt – the protection status is therefore revoked. Sehring is allowed to cut down and has already started, but has to reforest accordingly elsewhere.
The BUND speaks of a “massive interference in nature and landscape, combined with an undoubtedly significant impairment of the groundwater” in the Langen forest. “We don’t need to talk about small, arduous steps towards climate protection in the municipalities when a huge CO2 storage facility is being cut down on our doorstep,” adds Harald Eßer, leader of the Greens in Egelsbach.
The judges had confirmed that the mining of gravel and sand in the previous ban forest “clearly corresponds to the applicable law”, stressed Langen’s mayor Jan Werner (CDU).
How can it even happen that felling machines are allowed to move into the Bannwald? Forest can be declared a forest protection law in accordance with the Hessian Forest Act, provided it is “particularly worthy of protection in terms of its protective, climate protection and recreational functions”, explains the RP Darmstadt.
However, the associated protection against deforestation can be lifted again. This is permissible in the case of “dangers to public safety” or for “reasons of predominant public interest in the implementation of projects of supraregional importance or the expansion or new construction of rail infrastructure”, explains RP spokesman Christoph Süß.
Rail infrastructure – this also applies to the planned new ICE route Frankfurt-Mannheim. According to the railway, 9.8 hectares of forest must fall for the route chosen in the participation process.
In southern Hesse there is a painful history of the lifting of the ban forest for environmentalists. The most serious decisions were made in the course of expansion measures at Frankfurt Airport – Runway West, Airbus maintenance hangar. It’s been around ten years since 282 hectares of forest were cleared for the northwest runway. The road connection for the new Terminal 3 also fell victim to 4.5 hectares of forest, plus 1.6 hectares temporarily during the construction work.
Despite everything, the largest contiguous forest areas in Hesse can still be found around the airport. However, the felling for gravel mining near Langen also takes place in the vicinity of the airport.
Since the construction of the Nordwestbahn, in about 30 cases in the Rhine-Main area, declarations regarding the protected forest or protective forest – a somewhat weaker level of protection – have been revoked, the RP informs upon request. “In the majority of cases, less than 0.1 hectare of forest area was used.” Spokesman for the authorities, Süß, mentions drinking water supply measures, weather radar, radio systems or gas control stations as examples. About one hectare of forest was cleared for the expansion of a motorway rest area near Lorsch. The gravel mining in Langen is out of the ordinary because of its large dimensions.
For some time now there has also been an argument about clearing for a quarry in Heppenheim, where the Röhrig Granit company wants to expand mining. This is about 6.2 hectares of protective forest. The Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald is suing the Darmstadt Administrative Court against the project.
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