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May 11, 2015

The day before

We’ve raised our public voices to win a chance to save some of our endangered trees on the corner of Møllegade and Guldbergsgade tomorrow. But which ones? We must choose our battles.

The 14 endangered trees in the development project shed light on the very core of the problem: that there is no master plan for our urban trees. One department is working to solve one isolated problem, here the bike lane, and another department must work to salvage the remaining trees as best they can. With one well-formulated policy for all urban trees, we could coordinate all development. So many trees could be saved, and our budgetted ressources put to better use.

The cost of one new urban tree in Copenhagen is 75,000 Danish Crowns (€ 10.000), including soil improvement. And yet most roadside trees die before reaching 7 years of age. The growth conditions are too harsh, what with the salt, collisions, and compressed soil, shared with the underground wires and pipes. We desperately need to protect the remaining roadside trees. 

At the recommendation of Ove Løbner fra the Danish Society of Nature Conservation (Danmarks Naturfredningsforening), we will fight to save the trees along the outer wall, on both sides. These trees have been spared from the salt and collisions, and have had a chance for proper root expansion. They have matured and could, with the right planning, live another 80 years. If they are felled, however, there will never be trees on that very spot again, ever. That alone should be reason enough for the council to put that plan to rest.

Photo from the council’s own disposition in 2013, a small urban forest!


PS: The banner collapsed from the rain, but it is back up again. We all need to stay vigilant on the behalf of our trees, and make noise when they are endangered.

More on our fight for the Møllegade trees:



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