Forest Khimki: peripetias around the construction of a new highway M-11 Moscow-Petersburg

The forest fund of Moscow and the region is extremely important for people, as it neutralizes the many-ton emissions of harmful substances that are produced by countless megalopolis enterprises. Sometimes developers manage to issue documents for the construction of buildings that affect forest and even protected areas, and then scandals erupt between contractors, officials and indifferent citizens. This time in the epicenter of attention and confrontation was the forest Khimki, through which still built the route Moscow-Petersburg (M-11).

Some of the history of the forest

The first written mention of this forest massif dates back to the 14th century. Being in the immediate vicinity of Moscow, it acts as the last defensive line of the capital in times of war. Thus, in the years 1608-1609. The forest Khimki helped the army of Vasily Shuisky break up the squads of False Dmitriy 2: after sneaking through a thick thicket, the soldiers suddenly attacked the enemy and turned him into a shameful flight. During the Patriotic War of 1812, abundant vegetation served as a safe hiding place for partisan detachments. 1941 also was not an exception - the forest had to withstand severe tests: oak forests were cut to make anti-tank hedgehogs .

The flora and fauna of this forest are rich and diverse, relic plants grow here , as well as pine, spruce, larch, hazel, linden, primroses, lilies of the valley, lungworts, bathing suits and many others, and natural biosystems - oak and swamp. In addition, species that are listed in the Red Book of the Moscow Region grow. This natural filter protects the city of Khimki and its inhabitants from industrial discharges of the enterprises of the capital and the Moscow region, it has a beneficial effect on the health of patients with tuberculosis, therefore, in the vicinity of the forest there are tubercular clinics.

Conflict: key actors

Since the beginning of the approval of the project for laying a high-speed toll motorway, the Khimki forest has been at the epicenter of a powerful confrontation. The public, political (Yabloko, Right Cause and others), environmental organizations (more than 40, including Greenpeace), musicians (Yury Shevchuk) who were united in the "Movement of the Defenders of the Khimki Forest" turned out to be on the side of the opponents of the road construction. The movement headed by Eugene Chirikov.

Many scandalous events have been associated with the construction of the highway, including attempts on the life and health of the most active defenders of the forest and an attack on the city administration of Khimki (unknown persons stoned it with stones and faerie). At the end of summer 2010, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev decided to suspend the construction and organization of public hearings on the problem.

Ecological Defense in the Protection of the Khimki Forest

At various times from 2007 to 2010, rallies and protests took place in Khimki and Moscow, activists of the movement organized sabotage at the site of construction, repeatedly appealed to various authorities, including the president of the Russian Federation, to attract experts and human rights activists to assess the situation. As a result, the decision to build all the same approved and implemented, however, with certain amendments and a package of compensation.

Despite the fact that the project, according to which the route through the Khimki forest still lay, was realized, the efforts of nature conservationists were not wasted: the width of the glade was reduced - from the supposedly initially 3 km to 100 m; Minimized the length of the route - 8 km straight as an arrow; Planted trees on 500 hectares of land instead of cut down 100 hectares; Have allocated an unprecedented amount in the history of the Russian Federation to pay compensation for environmental damage - 4 billion rubles.

Pros and cons

In addition to the main project for the construction of the motorway through the Khimki forest, there were 10 alternative options that provided for the passage of the highway through the villages of Vashutino and Molzhaninovo. According to these projects, about 50 houses were to be demolished in these settlements. Residents of the settlements, this situation, of course, did not suit, and they expressed their protest.

The city of Khimki was divided into 2 camps: some residents were for construction, others were against. Some opponents of the new highway, such as the expert in the field of road construction Mikhail Blinkin, consider the option of the existing route not the most successful from the point of view of solving the transport problems of the capital, however, the quality of the road and the project implementation deserve attention - this is the first highway in Europe at the European level .