Protest oak on the Amelisweerd estate chosen as tree of the year

The Markiezeneik on the Amelisweerd estate near Utrecht was elected Tree of the Year 2022 with a record number of 37,000 votes.

The 200-year-old tree symbolizes the protest against the expansion of the A27 motorway. A large number of trees will need to be felled to enlarge the area. Many residents of Utrecht are against and therefore have named the oak for this election.

“In that sense it has become a kind of protest tree,” says Marlies Kolthof RTV Utrecht. She was involved in the organization of the elections by SBNL Natuurfonds.

According to her, the fact that the oak was not declared tree of the year for its appearance alone is not a problem at all. “Trees also evoke emotions, they connect people. It’s nice that this comes out in this election. And I don’t think anyone has been given a knife to vote for this tree.”

It is not the first time that a protest tree has won the elections. In 2018 he won the so-called Troeteleik, which is located in the central reserve of the A58. “An amazing tree near the Belgian border. It won that year too, albeit not with such a force majeure of votes. And now, four years later, the oak is still there,” says Kolthof.

As the winner of the tree of the year election, the Markiezeneik must now represent the Netherlands in Europe. But according to Kolthof, the tree will have a hard time there. “The competition is pretty tough. Particularly in Eastern Europe, there are really old trees to compete with.”