Klever citizens decide: Reichswald will not be a national park!

Klever citizens decide: Reichswald will not be a national park!

Reichswald, Kleve, Deutschland - The dream of the national park in the Reichswald in the district of Kleve has burst! The voters decided in a highly awaited citizens' decision: the Reichswald will not be a national park. With 52.7 percent of the votes cast, the citizens spoke out against the project, which was initiated by the black and green state government in North Rhine-Westphalia. A total of around 116,000 votes were counted, and the result is a clear setback for the National Park supporters who have been fighting for the protection and maintenance of the largest coherent state forest in NRW for months, such as Tagesschau.de reported.

intensive argument and hard fronts

The citizens 'decision was the result of a citizens' request with 15,518 signatures that caused the district council to ask the questions about the application for a national park. But there were violent debates and disputes in advance. Election posters were sprayed and insults on social media were the order of the day. The fears and uncertainties among the citizens were also great, such as Kreis-kleve.de . The Reichswald, which is comprehensive around 51 square kilometers, remains a state forest in which a large number of animal species live.

In September last year, the state government launched the initiative to found a second national park in North Rhine-Westphalia, but without making specific regional allocations. Some areas were mentioned as particularly suitable, including the Reichswald. However, the citizens' decision shows that local support for the project was not sufficient to implement the state government's decision.