Über Waldflächenveränderungen im 19. Jahrhundert am Beispiel des Landes Thüringen

Case Study of Changes in Forested Areas of Thuringia during the 19th Century

Alfeld

2005

5 Abb., 10 Lit. Ang.

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

4354

200120819

19th century was marked by political, economical and social upheavals, which had differing territorial influence on extending forested areas. There are no statistics covering changing land uses in larger areas during the same time frames. However, topographical maps provide information for comparing forested areas. Such maps of the former East Germany exist, encompassing the five new German federal states, but few have been published. The results for one map to the scale of 1 : 500,000 and five maps to the scale of 1 : 300,000 show those areas that were either cleared or afforested since the last 18th century, and those which remained forested up to the early 20th century. This articel presents a case study of methodological procedures in Thuringia, the results of which detail clearings and afforestation during the 19th century. The reasons for areas revealing above-average clearings or afforestation were researched. It was shown that in the larger clared areas - primarily in eastern Thuringia - the reasons were complex: Some areas were cleared for agriculture, others fell to industry and mining, population growth played a role, as did regional legal regulations. In the 19th century, afforestation occurred almost exclusively in landscapes bearing shelly limestone landscape. The mountain ranges were basically not affected by clear-fellings and afforestation measures, i.e. left untouched.