Tree felling and pruning work required at short notice on two more Saale bridges

Pruning work is to be carried out on individual trees and shrubs on two Saale bridges in the Jena city area in February to ensure traffic safety. The road bridge Kunitz and the pedestrian bridge Am Gries are affected.

Matthias Weitsch, responsible for the maintenance of Jena's bridges at the KSJ, explains: "Specifically, the work still to be done is mainly about removing individual branches that hit the bridge structures in the wind or damage the structure due to excessive shading and thus waterlogging."

In addition, statutory inspections of the structures on both bridges are once again due to be carried out using special under-bridge inspection equipment, which requires a clear working area of approx. 5 meters on both sides of the bridges. To make this possible, a willow and an ash tree have to be felled at the eastern end of the Kunitz road bridge.

"This area is not a riparian forest biotope like the one at the Camsdorf bridge," emphasizes Frank Hünefeld, head of the lower nature conservation authority in Jena.

However, species protection must also be taken into account when carrying out work as part of the traffic safety obligation. For this reason, the two trees due to be felled were closely inspected by employees of the lower nature conservation authority during a joint on-site inspection with the bridge managers from KSJ last week.

"This involves looking closely to see whether there are tree cavities in the trunks and branches that serve as breeding sites and roosts for birds and bats, or whether birds are already breeding on a tree," explains Hünefeld, who holds a doctorate in biology.

Signs of the presence of protected beetle species, such as emerging mulm at the base of the trunk, are also looked for during the inspection. As a result of the visual inspection, the all-clear was given: no cavities or nests were found on the two trees. The few other measures are merely the shortening of individual branches and the removal of young growth in the immediate vicinity of the bridges. The measures will be carried out by 28.02., as the Federal Nature Conservation Act stipulates that no further major pruning should be carried out after this date: The reason for this is the main breeding season for birds.