The elite troop KSK needs new space for parachute exercises. The state of Baden-Württemberg owns a 90-hectare site in the Zollernalb district. Ideal for the plans, says the state ministry. But local residents are fighting back.
Geislingen/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - There has been a violent protest against the construction of a 1000 meter long and 400 meter wide parachute training slope for the Special Forces Command (KSK). The Waldhof citizens' initiative, founded in March 2022, says twelve companies around the Waldhof state domain around Geislingen (Zollernalbkreis) would be affected and their existence endangered. The state domain is owned by the country, its areas are currently leased.
"Our free-range chickens run about 200 meters away from the planned runway. We're afraid that the chickens won't go outdoors anymore because of the noise. I can no longer sell free-range eggs. Then I can't make a living from them," says Tobias Vötsch Danneckerhof. He has 15,000 free range hens, they lay 14,000 eggs a day. They are sold to large supermarket chains, among others. Tobias Hölle from Steinefurthof with his 30,000 laying hens feels the same way. "During a parachute exercise in April, all the chickens fled back to the barn," says Hölle. Chickens are very skittish animals that run away without thinking about danger. There is a risk that they will injure or crush each other while fleeing.
The decision to implement the project on the Waldhof domain was made in principle, said a spokeswoman for the State Ministry in Stuttgart. "The federal and state governments are aiming for the release of the central area in Renningen by the end of 2023." The commissioning of the final tailings site on the state domain should not be possible before the second half of the decade at the earliest.
