by Eric Flint
Beginning in the twelfth century, we can find local ordinances which limited deforestation, and in the late fourteenth century, the first efforts at actively promoting reforestation.
There were also ordinances which prohibited pasturing in recently logged areas (as the animals would eat the sprouts and thus hinder reforestation), required preservation of certain trees (e.g., oak, beech, larch or pine), allowed only the use of dry wood as fuel, prohibited or restricted the sale of wood to foreigners.
The 1598 Brunswick forest law said that "every farmer shall every year at the proper time set out ten young oaks, every half farmer five, every farm laborer three, well taken up with roots (wildlings), and plant them in the commons or openings at Martini (November) or Mitfasten (Easter) and cover them with thorn brush." (Fernow 58)
* * *
In the early seventeenth century, the Finns cleared land for farming by burning the timber. When Sweden, with the aid of the Dutch industrialist Louis de Geer, sought to mine and smelt copper, it prohibited such waste—the wood was needed as fuel for the smelter. Finnish scofflaws were forced to migrate to New Sweden, the colony founded in Delaware in 1637. (Voyages of David de Vries, 133).
* * *
Even without up-timer intervention, comprehensive forestry management was an idea whose time had almost come in the 1630s. John Evelyn wrote Silva: or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in 1664, and Colbert, minister to Louis XIV, persuaded the Sun King to sign off on the French Forest Ordinance of 1669. Forest management began in Russia under Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovitch; 67 of the articles in the 1649 Council Code regulated the use of forests. (Teplyakov 2)
* * *
Enforcement of forestry laws is notoriously difficult. (Lillard, 122-32; Cox, 25, 30, 99-100, 139-42, 177-9; Pike 44-51; Wood 18, 58-9, 62) The forest lands are difficult to traverse, and the thicker the stands, the shorter the range of visibility. If sufficient foresters are deployed to police the woods, then there are that many more individuals who can be bribed to overlook tree poaching.
Forest Practice in Wurttemberg
Warde's Ecology, Economy and State Formation in Early Modern Germany has a detailed analysis of the forest district ( Forstamt) of Leonberg in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I hope it is reasonably representative of conditions elsewhere in central Europe.
Forstamt Leonberg was part of the Duchy of Wurttemberg, and was bordered on the west by the Black Forest. The Forstamt was one-third wooded in the west, and only one-fifth in the east. (Warde 52). It contained five small towns and fifty-three villages, and ran up to the walls of Stuttgart. (43). I don't know what fraction of the Duchy it occupied. The arboreal riches of the Forstamt included oak, birch, beech, hazel, alder, aspen, Scots pine, silver fir, ash, hornbeam, willow, and fruit trees (apple and pear)(231-5). The yield of stacked wood in 1713 was 1.6-5.4 cubic meters/hectare (248).
Warde provides this breakdown of forest ownership in 1682:
(3% unaccounted for) (106-7)
Warde's "communal" forests are best thought of as owned by a corporate-like legal entity, the "mark association," which in Wurttemberg corresponded to a village or town, but elsewhere in Germany (perhaps in a mountain valley) could be a looser association of dispersed farms (Huebner, Vol. I, Sec. 17).
Ducal forests (2300 hectares in 1682; 257) were organized into forest districts ( Forstamter) administered by a forester. The foresters of Leonberg included members of the minor nobility (Gall von Sachsenheim; Friedrich Jacob von Reischach), but more often were professional foresters who had held similar positions in connection with lesser woodlands (Ulrich Bauder, 1589-1613?, Hans Ulrich Bauder, 1613?-1648?).
Forester pay was a pittance in cash, together with free use of a house, clothing, and various payments in kind. The latter exceeded what the forester would use himself, and the excess could be traded or sold to others, depending on the acumen of the forester. (Warde 185). Foresters also had some kind of expense account; they filed claims for food and lodging when away from the town of Leonberg. In the fiscal year 1585-6, Philip Rossach filed 186 claims. Ulrich Bauder had 129 in 1609-10. (188-9).
Figure that a forester might spend one-third of his time facilitating ducal hunts (locating "trophy" stags, getting hunting dogs in place, and chasing poachers), one-third dealing directly with the wood (surveying, and overseeing the cutting and transport of the timber), and one-third on miscellaneous administrative tasks (riding the bounds, supervising subordinates, attending court, preparing reports, etc.)(189)
Each forstamt was further divided into wards, and each ward (Hut) was monitored by a forest warden (Forstknechten. There were thirteen wardens in 1585 (186). The precise size of a ward isn't mentioned, but Warde says that by 1523, wardens were "within a day's walk of all of the district."
We don't know too much about the specific duties of the wardens, but it is safe to assume that they carried out the "detail work" for the forester. The forester might lead a group of wardens against a gang of poachers, but the less exciting work of the ward (e.g., counting the number of stags in June and of wild boar in October) was probably done individually.
Wardens tended to be chosen from the locality, which meant that they had a good knowledge of their ward. It also meant that they could have overly cozy relationships with the farmers and townsmen that they sometimes had to guard the forest against. The corruption of the wardens wasn't surprising, because the pay was poor. In the tax returns of 1544-5, none had an assessment over 160 florins. (The mean for the 4,000 inhabitants of Amt Leonberg was 246, Warde 124.)
The ducal forest income came both from the sale of wood, and of privileges, e.g., gathering acorns, or hunting rights (215). Forest income was usually 8-10% of the total ducal income, but in 1629-31, it reached 14% (216). In 1600, firewood was about 90% of the wood sold from ducal woodlands (264). Beyond that (I think), in 1604-5, ducal woodlands sold 163 trees (export?), and another 137 oaks and 203 firs were put to use within the duchy (e.g., repairing millworks)(254-5).
The ducal foresters and wardens concerned themselves with the non-ducal woodlands only if the latter were grossly mismanaged (191).
The communal administrative system could be complex. First, there were the "ordained in the wood" ( Verordnete im Wald), who were in charge of certain major activities, e.g., marking and felling of trees. These were usually leading citizens, often members of families with a vested interest in the forest (e.g., coopers), who held the position for an average of eight years. Sometimes they provided deputies to do the actual work.
Then there was the mayor ( Burgermeister); in Leonberg, you needed his say-so in order "to remove tree stumps, remove lying or dead woods . . . to cut rods, and to drive the pigs into the woods for pannage" (grazing on acorns).
Finally, there were the town's wood wardens, who actually policed the property. Trespassers could be brought before the bailiff ( Schultheiss) of the village court.
A balance had to be struck by each community with respect to the use of land: as farmland (supplying vegetables and grains), as pasture (supplying meat and milk, as well as manure to restore the fertility of the farmland), and as forest (supplying fuel, and the raw material for making buildings and wooden goods)(Warde 53). The latter uses weren't mutually exclusive; pasture use of woodland was extensive. The woodland of a community was usually on its outskirts (since the forest didn't require constant care) or on steep slopes unsuitable for plowing. (Warde 75).
About 70% of the wood was harvested from forest managed as "coppice with standards" ( Mittelwald). To control harvesting, some forests were divided into compartments, harvested cyclically. The most common cycle was sixteen years, but the range was 8-40. The village of Renningen, in the 1560s, had 23 compartments, each 17 morgens (one morgen=0.3316 hectares). Compartmentalization was most common for commune forests, less so for ducal ones. Nonetheless, over 80% of woodland would be earmarked to be cut at a particular time. (Warde 76-7, 235-7).
The forest had a traditiona
l schedule. December and January were the months in which the foresters marked wood as suitable for special uses. The trees were chopped down in February, March and perhaps April (in Munklingen and Leonberg, the cutting season ended on St. George's Day, April 23). This was late enough so that the wood wasn't frozen, but before the sap rose, weakening the wood. The wood sales were done by May. During the summer, the forest officials inspected the forest and chased poachers, handing in their reports in August. There could be a second cutting season in the fall, after St. Edigius' Day (September 1) and before the winter freeze. There was also more surveying, and selling of shipment of wood, in the autumn. (Warde, 78-9).
In general, cutting was frequent enough so that mature stands were relatively rare. Bauholz (building wood) occupied only 14% of the woodland (238). A 1495 ducal ordinance complains of "the great shortage of wood for fuel and building." (175). It may have been the first such official complaint, but it was definitely not the last. Over time, exports of wood declined, and residents who once were allotted free firewood found they had to pay for it (244). Wood sales dropped from about 425 klafter (1 klafter=3.386 cu. m. = 144 cu. ft.) in 1580 to less than 25 in 1630 (244-5). It is rather likely that the wood extracted from the forest exceeded the "mean annual increment."
The town of Gebersheim, with 100 hectares of woodland, sold 18 trees a year in 1630-1, 108 in 1632, 45 in 1633 and 115 in 1634. It seems pretty clear that they were selling off mature trees for ready cash, at a non-sustainable level. (260-1)
Up-Time Forestry Methods
There are two key points to remember about the economic role of forests:
—they are a renewable resource
—for most tree species, the renewal is very slow.
The average age of a live oak ( Quercus virginiana) when cut was 75-100 years old. In nature, there are two to three large trees per acre. (Wood, 55). Of course, there are trees which mature quickly. Willow, which can be used in basket-making, provides a return in ten to twelve years. Some poplars take only twenty to thirty years to mature. (Baker 83). Birch, aspen, alder and larch are also rapid growers (Fernow 61-2).
Modern forestry emphasizes "sustained yield" management—that is, the average annual harvest is equal to the average annual growth. Bear in mind that in the short-term, we will be asking the citizens of the USE to harvest less timber. If we haven't educated the people as to why this is important—and if they aren't willing to take a long-term view—then either they will flout the new forestry law, or, if we enforce it, show their disagreement in other ways.
I am not very satisfied with the encyclopedia descriptions of forestry methods. However, I think it reasonable to expect that Gordon Alexander would be familiar with the very basic silviculture principles which I set forth below.
Mensuration. It was recognized as early as the fourteenth century that the forest was a renewable resource, but that it needed time to recover from extensive logging. The question was how best to accomplish this. The logical expedient was one which was somewhat analogous to rotation of crops. That is, the forest would be partitioned into lots, which would be successively logged and reforested. This progressive movement of logging operations is called "rotation."
In the French Forest Ordinance of 1669, "la methode a tire et aire" was adopted. In essence, the forest was divided into lots of equal area. However, in modern forestry practice, the division is into lots of equal wood volume. Naturally, the period of rotation (the average time between harvests of the same lot) must be sufficient for the lot to recover. The longer it takes for the given tree species to mature, the longer the cycle must be. Moreover, to implement a longer period of rotation, the forest must be divided into a larger number of (smaller) lots.
The EA provides some basic guidance as to how to develop a forestry plan. The first step is to prepare a field map and a timber inventory by species. To obtain a timber inventory, first you determine the area of each forest species as shown on the field map. Then, for each species area, you determine the total merchantable timber volume. That is done by actually measuring the diameter and height of all the trees in several sample plots of known area, multiply the nominal wood volume by the average cordwood content of the trees of that forest species, and extrapolating to the total area of the forest species. This can be a bit tricky because the density of the species can vary from one part of the forest to another.
Silviculture Systems. A number of different silviculture systems exist; these combine a cutting method with a regeneration method. (Hawley)
Three different cutting methods are used with even-aged stands. The first, clearcutting, removes the entire stand at one time. EA says that this is typically used with stands of conifers, such as southern pines and Douglas fir, which are intolerant of shade.
Clearcutting is usually less expensive than other methods (but see Raphael 164). You only need to bring the logging crews in once per rotation, and likewise, you don't need to maintain access roads for as long a period. Some logging methods (e.g., skylining) work best with clearcutting. You don't need to worry about protecting some trees while you harvest others, and you harvest more wood for immediate sale. After harvesting, you have an even-aged stand (even if you didn't originally) and that means that subsequent management is easier (e.g., you can administer pesticides just during the period when the entire stand is most vulnerable). If the newly planted trees are of a species that is intolerant of shade, then clearcutting guarantees them plenty of sun in their early years. (Berger 86-8, Raphael 158-9)
Modern environmental groups tend to oppose clearcutting on the ground that it is unnatural; fires and insect infestations usually don't remove all the trees in a large section of the forest. It is more difficult for the forest to regenerate itself (natural seeding is more difficult; seedlings are in the open), and habitat diversity is reduced, which adversely effects wildlife. Clearcutting is most problematic if practiced on mountain slopes (where the trees help prevent avalanches), and in harsh climates (where the forest moderates the temperature and the forest cover facilitates regeneration). But even environmentalists may applaud clearcutting when it is used to remove invasive species. (Berger, 88-94).
The seed tree method, leaves behind a small number of seed trees. Naturally, the most valuable and healthy trees should be reserved for seed, especially if it is possible to harvest them at a later stage, when reforestation is well along.
The shelterwood method can be characterized as featuring at least two heavy thinnings of the stand. After the first cut, the remainder of the old stand provides seeds, and shelters the resulting seedlings. Then the second cut completes the removal of the old stand, freeing the established seedlings to develop fully. Thus, the "shelterwood" system is really a clear cut performed over several cutting cycles. EA says that the "shelterwood" system "is appropriate for conifers that are semi-tolerant of shade (such as ponderosa or white pine)," and that "the taller trees are removed in two or three stages at intervals of 8 to 10 years."
If the stand is of uneven age, then the usual method is the selection method. An uneven-aged stand is defined as one consisting of at least three age classes, so the selection method, to perpetuate such a stand, must feature at least three cuttings during a single rotation. EA says that the selective logging of hardwood of uneven age is "at five or ten year intervals, with the largest and most poorly formed trees being removed and the other trees left to grow."
Selection usually results in removal of the tallest trees. According to a nineteenth century commentator, "a Maine forest after a lumber campaign is like France after a coup d'etat; the bourgeoisie are as prosperous as ever, but the great men are all gone." (Cox, 81) A poorly timed selection cut, by eliminating the most commercially desirable trees, becomes a reverse genetic selection, in which only the undesirable trees get to reproduce. (Berger 72, Raphael 162)
Selection may be used to convert a mixed stand into a pure one (a monoculture), by culling out the trees which (in the eyes of the forester) "don't belong."
It also can convert an uneven aged stand into an even one, or vice versa (if seeds are sown).
Regeneration. There are two basic regeneration methods. The "high forest" method produces new stands from seed. It can be combined with any of the cutting methods described above. The "low forest" ("coppice") method regenerates the trees vegetatively, that is, by sprouting from stumps or root suckers. In its pure form, it is applied after clear cutting.
High and low methods are combined in what is called coppice-with-standards. The "standards" are seed trees, and regeneration is both from the seed provided by the standards, and from the stumps and roots of the logged trees.
In the case of the live oak of the southeastern United States, a tree grown from acorns takes 50-60 years to reach maturity, while one grown from stumps is mature in just one-third that time. (Wood 51)
* * *
The term "rotation" has its original physical meaning often in the management of even-aged stands which are clear cut. Modern foresters define the period of rotation as being "the period of years required to establish and grow timber crops to a specified condition of maturity." (Chapman 252). If all you need is firewood, five years might be good enough. If you need building materials, you might have to wait fifty, even one hundred, years. (Logan 94).
