Die Nachhaltigkeit und der Mittelwald

About this book

Knowing the history and context of a piece of landscape is an unfortunately often neglected necessity for planning disciplines (including conservation and forestry). Just as a doctor can only suggest an appropriate therapy if he knows the antecedents of the disease, the possible or appropriate changes to, for example, a forest can only be seriously considered if the historical, economic and social causes for its creation and current state are described and understood. The present work undertakes this comprehensive description for the remaining oak-hornbeam forest relicts, and widespread beech forests near Göttingen. Since vegetation science is understood here as an art of telling the story(s) and current background of an object, the vegetation study of these forests, however, only forms the basis for telling a multifaceted story. This story focuses on the historical coppice with standards forests, the struggle for their conversion into beech high forests, and the underlying sustainability views of various actors. Methodically, the author draws on current, archival and historical-contemporary literature from over 400 years. The result is a closely interwoven web consisting of: the…