Green space maintenance on the Munich motorway ring road Maintenance and development plan with grazing, grove maintenance, mowing and public relations, German Landscape Architecture Award 2005, appreciation

Grazing

For the maintenance or use of the dry sites, grazing with sheep is carried out. The herd size is approx. 300 to 500 Merinoland sheep. All existing dry biotopes, newly designed compensation areas and the roadside areas are integrated into the grazing system with the exception of the inner ring areas.
The grazable areas extend from the AD Feldmoching in the east over the entire areas located in the area of the gravel tongue to the new construction sections west of the A 8. The areas form an almost closed ring.
The grazing is primarily carried out over farm roads, to a lesser extent over the embankment areas of the motorways. Public roads are required only to a minor extent. To allow smooth drifting of the sheep herd, roadsides, field margins, and forest edges will be included. The protection of road traffic is guaranteed by game fences.
The grazing is contractually fixed for 10 years. Thus, the long-term care is secured cost-effectively and in the best possible way from a nature conservation point of view.

Mahd

Away from the drift corridors, on areas close to the roadway and on wetland areas, maintenance is carried out by mowing.
On grassland areas already rich in species, it is carried out as a single autumn mowing, on areas still to be stored as a double mowing (summer and autumn) with removal of the mown material.
For a part of the areas a rotational mowing is carried out in a rhythm of 2 to 3 years, so that a structurally rich mosaic of tall herbaceous vegetation, tall sedge meadows and small woody stands can develop.
The same applies to edge and buffer strips, where only scrub encroachment is to be prevented.

Woody plant care

The maintenance of the roadside woody plants is carried out by pruning in sections, leaving individual well-developed trees. In this way, near-natural and structurally rich stands are promoted.
The maintenance period is defined as 3 years, the pruning takes place in winter. In the first year, a third of the stand is worked on, in the second and third year, the other thirds are cut.
The development of forest edges also aims at a structurally rich structure with stepped stands of woody mantle and species-rich herbaceous margin.
Overall, the maintenance ensures the long-term development of stable and ecologically high-quality woody plants.

Visitor guidance - Public relations

In addition to the nature conservation objectives, the compensation and design areas also fulfil important functions with regard to the reorganisation of recreational use. In order to avoid conflicts of objectives, targeted visitor guidance is carried out in particularly heavily frequented areas.
An important step in this regard is also the construction of accompanying paths and parking spaces. In addition, the construction of dedicated equestrian trails will protect sidewalks and bike paths.
In order to further guide recreational use, information boards have been installed. They include information about the goals and value of the compensation and design areas, as well as their historical background and development. Regular public information is provided to avoid conflicts between recreational use (e.g. dogs) and grazing.
This is done via the district committees, through press releases, radio and television interviews and individual events such as the annual shepherd's festival. Kindergartens and schools are involved in this.

back to overview

1. Grazing
2. Mahd
3. Woody plant care
4. Visitor guidance - Public relations