The history of Central European forests is characterised by thousands of years of exploitation by people. Thus a distinction needs to be made between the botanical natural history of the forest in pre- and proto-historical times—which falls mainly into the fields of natural history and Paleobotany—and the onset of the period of sedentary settlement which began at the latest in the Neolithic era in Central Europe - and thus the use of the forest by people, which is covered by the disciplines of history, archaeology, cultural studies and ecology.
The definition of Central Europe is a (sometimes heated) area of debate, and isn't used with consistent meaning across fields of study, encyclopedias and dictionaries, cultures or natural and political borders.
In rough terms the general area both geographically and ecologically is situated between the North Sea, the Alps, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
Overview
Historical and contemporary human activity has profoundly influenced the composition of forests in the densely populated region of Central Europe. Remaining forest in Central Europe today is not generally considered natural forest, but rather a cultural landscape created over thousands of years which consists almost exclusively of replacement communities. The oldest evidence of human and forest interaction in Central Europe is the use of hand axes about 500 thousand years ago. The degree of hemeroby (human influence) and the extent of the original natural state from so long ago is difficult to estimate. It is believed that during glacial times during the ongoing ice age Central Europe was largely deforested and, in the period of "natural" re-emergence of the forest, since the end of the last glacial period, the Würm glaciation (about 11 700 years BP), people began to play a part transforming the potential natural vegetation. Sedentary, Neolithic farmers of the Linear Pottery Culture, about 7 500 years ago, began to change the forested landscape massively.
Due to feudal structures, the power over and ownership of forests was not at all clear for many centuries, which resulted in widespread overexploitation. As a result, during the period 1750-1850 forests in Central Europe had been decimated, causing a serious lack of timber. Some contemporary reports even spoke partly of desert-like landscapes at that time.
During the late 19th and 20th centuries a huge amount of artificial reforestation was implemented.
Today's forest communities in central Europe are influenced by the usefulness of the individual tree species. Apart from a few remnants of "near-natural forest" the vast majority of today's Central European forests are either artificial forests or whose present composition has arisen as a result of active or passive human intervention. By far the most common are commercial timber forests, which may be more or less near-natural,Helge Walentowski & Susanne Winter (2007): Naturnähe im Wirtschaftswald – was ist das? Tuexenia 27: 19–26. with beech and oak, spruce and pine. "Ancient forests" in Central Europe refer to the few remaining stands that are neither currently used for forestry nor were exploited in historical times.
Even with these, certain types of human influence, for example, forest browsing, cannot be completely ruled out. The composition and dynamics of the old Central European forests must therefore be reconstructed from these relics, from forest research areas and natural forest cells after they have ceased to be used, and by comparison with forest types in similar climatic conditions that are still true virgin forests, especially the Hyrcanian Forest on the Caspian Sea.Reinhard Mosandl: Geschichte der Wälder in Mitteleuropa im letzten Jahrtausend. Aktuelle Beiträge zum Verständnis der historischen Entwicklung. In Bernd Herrmann (editor): Beiträge zum Göttinger Umwelthistorischen Kolloquium 2008 - 2009. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2009. pp.91-114. preview at Google Books
There is almost no data on the density and the influence of megaherbivores in prehistoric times, only conjecture. According to many forest scientists and a number of hunters, perpetual forest structures, which are advantageous for the forestry industry and the ecology, cannot be established without strong hunting measures to cull the present-day herbivores, the red and roe deer ensuring a correspondingly low density of these herbivores. Excessive stocks of deer do not only harm the forest as a commodity, but also prevent the natural regeneration of the forest through selective browsing by the animals and therefore hinder its natural development.
The megaherbivore theory argues that larger densities of game should therefore be permitted, because it would create a half-open and diverse landscape. Apart from red and roe deer there are no large herds of herbivores today and they have few natural predators. In today's cultural landscape, the establishment of permanent forest is seen as an economic and ecological goal; herbivores roving over wide areas inflict economic damage and are therefore hunted. The grazing of wild megaherbivores is therefore limited, as a landscape conservation measure, to large nature reserves in which a species-rich and semi-open landscape is to be preserved and economic objectives are rated as less important.
Forms of forest use Silviculture and forest management dominate forestry in Central Europe today. Hunting is probably the earliest form of forest use. Among the most important species hunted are roe deer, various species of red deer, wild boar, red fox and some smaller mammals. In the past large carnivores - the lynx, brown bear and wolf - also belonged to this group; but today, these species have very small populations in German-speaking countries and restricted to very small areas within the region, so these animals are currently protected. Forests were kept partly as game reserves, as so called "wildbann" forests (Wildbannforste), reserved for grand hunts by the nobility, and are probably better preserved in a relatively original state as a result. Silvopasture is an early historical, agroforestry form of forest use, whereby cattle were driven into the forest for pasture. Depending on how intensively this was done, the forest was either thinned or died out. Woody plants that are not readily eaten, such as juniper, spread. As a result, in many places, clear, park-like countryside and juniper heaths were created in the Middle Ages and modern era. These communities later reduced as areas were reforested or as agricultural use intensified. Recreation activities in the forests of Central Europe increased during the 20th century as a result of the leisure society. The social function of European forests is increasingly seen as important, and competes with its classic uses. Protection forests (Schutzwald) are those where the economic exploitation takes a low priority. The protection they offer may refer to location (e.g. unstable soils), to objects (avalanche protection of settlements), to habitat conservation and other ecologically significant factors, or the forest as a social space. The use of forest to provide a protective function is today the third major component alongside economic forestry for wood products and hunting.
Historical Overview Effect of the ice ages Effects of Neolithization Roman-Germanic settlement period Forests in free Germania Forests in Roman occupied Germania Forests during the period of mass migration Forest development in the Middle Ages - pre-industrial uses, destruction, first regulated uses Royal privileges over forest use legislated through wildbanns Common use of the forests by adjacent settlements such as those around the Markwald Nuremberg Imperial Forest (Reichswald) (as early as the Middle Ages, regulated pine industry in the late 15th century?), earlier regulated selection cutting in southwestern Germany and especially in Switzerland? Effects of preindustrial forest uses (saltworks, charcoal burning, naval construction, ...) Historical agricultural forms of use (leaf and pine needle gathering for animal straw, wood pasture - continued long after the Middle Ages, though in terms of area no longer relevant by the 20th century) Forest development from the end of the Thirty Years' War to the present Little Ice Age, 15th to 19th centuries, a period of cold weather affecting wood growth and consumption, which in the early 19th century contributed to a large shortage of timber Thirty Years' War - recovery of population decline Effects of preindustrial forest uses (mining, smelting, saltworks, charcoal burning, dairy farming (Holländerei) (exploitation, timber rafts from the Black Forest, some to London), naval construction (in the Battle of Trafalgar huge oak forests were lost), ...) Wood shortage (Holznot) Development of forestry from 1700: Industrialization: substitution of charcoal by lignite, coal, crude oil Discovery of fertilizers Forest dieback or Waldsterben
Effects of ice ages Unusual climatic extremes began to occur during the Pliocene epoch, four million years ago. In the Pleistocene epoch that followed, these fluctuations culminated in a number of extensive ice ages, which ended, in central Europe, around 12,000 years ago. (For details, see the last glacial period and climate history.)
During these cold periods, the average temperature in Central Europe fell by up to 12 °C. The snowline in the Alps dropped by 1,200 metres to 1,400 metres. Between the Alpine glaciers and the Scandinavian ice sheet, with a thickness of up to 3,000 m, was a relatively narrow, ice-free belt.
Central Europe was unforested at this time, except for local wooded areas of steppe and tundra which were covered by frost-resistant birch and pine. The vegetation of this period is referred to as Dryas flora, after its flagship species, the mountain avens (Dryas octopetala).
Extinctions Unlike, for example, the North American continent where mountain ranges are oriented in a north–south direction, the east–west running ranges in Europe blocked the retreat of forest species in the face of advancing ice sheets. This barrier led to the extinction of several species in Europe. In the early ice ages, horse chestnut (Aesculum hippocastanum) and sweet gum (Liquidambar) became extinct. The following cold period led to the extinction of sequoia (Sequoia), umbrella pine (Sciadopitys, Cryptomeria ), arborvitaes (Thuja), tulip trees (Liriodendron) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga). Hemlock (Tsuga) and hickory (Carya) became extinct during the Quaternary glaciations in Central Europe.
In addition, of the numerous oak species only three were able to return to Germany and Central Europe from their refuge areas, namely the English oak (Quercus robur), sessile oak (Q. petraea) and downy oak (Q. pubescens). By comparison, in North America there are over 80 species of oak. Other types lost considerably in their intraspecific genetic diversity during the return migration such as the white fir (Abies alba).
Refuges Forest flora was pushed back slowly by climatic change. The refuges of the last ice age were probably but not exclusively in southern Europe. A few species on today's Atlantic coast between England and France could also have survived the cold spell of the forest steppes. Another area of retreat was east and southeast Europe. Unlike much of Scandinavia and Russia, the Carpathians remained ice-free. So some species were also able to survive here. But the classic refuge remained the Mediterranean region, where the sea made for a balanced climate and highly rugged mountain ranges partitioned different residual populations.
Return migration