In October, the Freising State Building Authority will start looking after the trees again. Trees and bushes have to be worked on so that the green along federal and state roads in the district of Dachau as well as on the cycle paths next to them can continue to perform its important tasks effectively. The tree care season runs until the end of February.
Trees and bushes fulfill important functions along roads: Among other things, they serve as privacy, glare and wind protection. They also provide a habitat for mammals, birds and insects. Without regular care, however, the trees could become a source of danger: sick and old trees lose their stability and could endanger motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. Branches that protrude into the traffic area could damage vehicles. A clear view in curves and along the route must also be guaranteed. Likewise, signs, delineator posts, traffic lights and crossings must not be covered by plants.
“Road safety is the decisive criterion for us. But we are also aware of the sensitive issue. Our aim is to interfere with our woody stock as little as possible and as much as necessary,” explains Hans Jörg Oelschlegel, Head of Road Construction at the Freising State Building Authority. “Maintenance measures on trees and bushes serve to preserve them in the long term.” The maintenance of the trees is done by the employees of the road maintenance depot Dachau or by contracted companies.
A small part of the wood remains in place, where it provides a new habitat for mushrooms, plants, insects and birds as dead wood or piled up in piles of brushwood. The much larger part of the wood is removed, however, so that the stands can rejuvenate themselves and root stocks can sprout again. The clippings are recycled and used for energy, for example as chopped biomass.
In some cases, roads have to be closed for the work or provided with extensive safety measures. Sometimes work is carried out in difficult terrain, which necessitates the use of complex safety technology and cost-intensive machines. In order to use equipment and personnel as economically as possible, the respective sections of the route are first cut or felled. In a second step, the employees transport the clippings away in bundles.
The term wood care may sound strange in some places, but wood sections that are “placed on the cane”, i.e. shrubs cut back to about ten to twenty centimeters above the ground, initially look very bare. However, according to the building authority, this method helps nature to rejuvenate itself and to reposition itself. A relatively short time later, the plants develop new shoots again.
For road users and residents, experience has shown that the tree care season is associated with a number of questions: Why are shrubs cut back so much? What happens to the resulting wood? Do shrubs offer protection from noise? Answers to these and many other questions as well as current information are available from the State Building Authority on the Internet at www.stbafs.bayern.de.