The Markiezeneik on the Amelisweerd estate in Utrecht was voted tree of the year by an overwhelming majority. The tree won thanks to tens of thousands of votes in protest against the enlargement of the A27. Hundreds of trees have to be felled for this.
No less than 36,693 people voted for the pedunculate oak over two hundred years old. It follows well behind the boom of the disease fever in Overasselt, which came in second place with 1,374 votes.
“For me, this shows that residents of Utrecht and the Netherlands care a lot about vegetation,” says Merel de Koning of the action group Amelisweerd Niet Asfaleerd. “The fact that people have voted so massively for this tree is because people are really tired of the government continuing to cut trees.”
De Koning hopes the election victory will send a painful message to the government that it wants to remove hundreds of trees in Amelisweerd. “I think the politicians in The Hague will not be so happy with this.” Thanks to the victory, the endangered tree is now competing for the title of European tree of the year.
“Mighty tree”
Ton Cornelissen, 78, sent the Markiezeneik as a representative of the Utrecht province. He calls it “a very powerful tree”, with its length of 30 meters and trunk circumference of 5.5 meters. “Anyone who loves photography or drawing will lick their fingers in front of the beautiful relief of the bark.”
Cornelissen has been regularly in the woods for the past few weeks to collect votes for the Markiezeneik with flyers. “If you see this tree as a symbol against highway widening, vote for this tree,” he said. The election was also widely shared in Utrecht’s WhatsApp and Facebook groups.
The “Battle of Amelisweerd” in 1982
The “Battle of Amelisweerd” in 1982 Photo: ANP
Amelisweerd has been under threat for decades
By 1982, part of Amelisweerd had already been cut to build the current A27. The activists then occupied the forest to prevent the felling of about 600 trees, but they became heavy deleted by police. This happened while the summary proceedings against the hood were still pending.
As early as 2010, the then Rutte I cabinet proposed to expand the highway in Amelisweerd to twice seven lanes. This has been discussed for years. The Rutte IV Cabinet Coalition Agreement stated that alternatives would still be explored.
In March, the cabinet decided to continue with the expansion plans because there would be no good alternatives. But from the documents in question A.D recently published, it turned out that a promising option has never been seriously studied. According to De Koning, that message caused a huge increase in the number of votes for the Markiezeneik.
