How Forestry Began

By: Bob Gara

How forestry began

By: Bob Gara

• Where to start?

• From the beginning of course:

• Three Nordic gods were traveling together on a deserted earth.

Odin –

Hoenir –

Lodur -

AND THEY SAID:

• As they passed two large tree branches they resolved to make mortals out of them!

Aus einer am Strand gefundenen Esche machten sie daraufhin einen Mann (Askr) und aus einer Ulme eine Frau (Embla). Odin hauchte ihnen Leben ein, Vil gab ihnen Verstand und Gefühl (Bewegung) und Ve gab ihnen Gehör, Sprache und Antlitz (und warmes Blut?). Dies war das erste Menschenpaar.

“ From these two branches, I Odin will give them breath; Hoenir will give each of them a soul and the ability to reason; and Lodur will give them warmth (warmes Blut) and the color of life.”

“ From the man called Ask (ash) and his wife Embla (vine) proceeded the entire human race (Dies war das erste Menschenpaar.)”

This heritage probably explains why we love trees and forests!

Let’s go back thousand’s of yrs to Mesopotamiaand talk about it’s forests

The greater civilizations of Mesopotamia was built at the expense of seemingly endless cedar forests in mountains to the east and in the Ammanus Mts. to the north (ca. 2500 – 2000 BP).

Sumer: first greatcivilization!

Cedars

Within this civilization the Sumerians founded the great city of Ur, where the “Bronze Age” was at its highest.

- bronze tools such as axes, hammers, hoes, and sickles facilitated common labor; but

- producing bronze increased dramatically the need for wood to fuel the foundry furnaces;

- carpentry shops were common

- houses were being built of wood

Ammanus Mts.

vast cedar forests

Sumeriancivilization

Larger Mesopotamiancivilization Zagros Mts.

Then

NowThe cedarforests of Mesopotamia

Many Islamic artistshave tried to resurrectthese ancient forests

Besides cedars, the forests of the Ammanus Mts. yielded:

- Euphrates poplar- Willows- Unknown hardwoods, i.e. species elude scholars

Products produced- logs, roof beams- levers- pegs and rungs of ladders- posts and rods for basketry- planks and boards- boat ribs- hoes, plows, handles etc.- branches and twigs made charcoal- branch bundles used to reinforce the banks of canals and rivers

Archeological restoration of a house in Ur -- heavyuse of woodentimbers

• By the 3rd millennium BP the growing civilization of the Euphrates-Tigris River basin created a large demand on timber resources to the East and, to the Northeast; great battles were fought for these resources!

• The Sumerians ultimately gained control or the forests as well as the log transportation system formed by the Euphrates & Tigris Rivers.

• Finally, as trees were felled and placed in the river systems, salt, silt, logs, wooden debris filled the upper upper reachesreaches of the waterways.

• The hillsides and mountainous areas were bared and the salt-rich sedimentary rocks of the north erodedsalt-rich sedimentary rocks of the north eroded rapidly.

Some final words about this ancient area: Increased salinization of the alluvial soils of Sumeria COINCIDED with the onset of Mesopotamian exploitation of its northern timberlands;

Ammanus mts.(Headwaters ofthe Euphratesand Tigris rivers)

Increased salinization was nonreversible & caused progressive decline in crop yields:

- Harvests of barley averaged 2,537 liters/hectare in 2,400 BP (comparable to modern-day U.S. harvest).

- Three hundred yrs. later, yields dropped by 42%.

Final words continued:

Damn!

-By 2,000 BP, as barley production collapsed, so did Sumeria.

-- Declining food production due to soil-salinization was the main factors in collapse of the Sumerians. Center of development moved north.

What did wedo wrong?

So, ecological and economic disasters caused by destruction of forests and watersheds is an old story.

Time moves on.

Pliny the Elder (23-79AD) tells us that the Mts. of Lebanon continued to be an important timber region of the Roman Empire.

Later, the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138AD) worried about the dwindling timber supply of the Lebanese and Ammanus Mts. and declared a portion of this area as a “Timber Reserve of the Roman Empire.”

“ARBORUM GENERA IV CETERA PRIVATA”

Boundary of the forests of Emperor HadrianAugustus: “four species are reserved, therest are private”

Imagine! A timber reserve!

There are many more examples of early use and tremendous misuse of forests:

• Crete and Knossos• Ancient Greece• Cyprus• Rome• The Muslim Mediterranean• The Venetian Republic

Let’s move on!

The Roman Catholic Church and, in particular, the Benedictine order.

St. Benedict (480–530) gave the order its motto:

“Pray and Work”

St. Benedict established thefirst order at Monte Casinoin 529 (now central Italy).

By the end of the 7th centurythere were 400 Benedictine monasteries spread all over Europe.

It is the way that new monasteries “budded-off” that is interesting to European forestry.

(1) As monasteries grew and monks felt crowded, they would leave in groups of at least 12 and enter the unknown forests around them.

(2) The new groups would fell trees, build huts, till the newly-created openings in the forest, attract converts and gradually change the countryside.

(3) Also, since forested lands were not too valuable to the noble-birth land owners, they would deed tracts of forests to the new cloisters.

The monks change the landscape (continued)

• In 1147 King Conrad III, a Germanic nobleman, gave large tracts of forested lands to the Cistercian monks if they would tame the land.

• Archbishop of Magdeburg exempted land owners from tithe if they gave their “untamed forests and marshes” to the Cistercian monks.

• So, for the next 300 yrs. monks drained swamps, cut forests, farmed the land and attracted settlers – the ultimate desire of the feudal economy of the time.

As the forests were cleared, some initial forest management principles emerged:In 1040 monks of the Vallumbrosan Order (off-shoot Benedictines):

- preserved forests that were on terrain too tough to farm (“places where God would touch their souls”);

- encouraged reforestation of cut forested land – prepared the sites for seeding;

- planted seedlings dug from the forests;

- shaped trees for basketry (pollarding) and stumps for sprouts – fuel wood.

By 1595 forest laws emergedA guide for the Trappists Monks near the French town of Trappe:

“ … are hereby forbidden to cut any of the woods (trees) belonging to the abbey before the age of 15 years , seeing the poverty of the soil. They shall regulate their coupes (cutting areas) into 15 equal fellings and they shall leave standing at each felling at least five standards per coupe. They shall allow one-third of their forest area to grow as high forests on the best soil … etc.”

Forestry 101 formonks

Besides setting forest reserves, and providing rudimentary rules on how to manage forest resources, the monasteries were the first to establish coppice and pollarding silvicultural systems.

Coppice Pollard

i.e. managing the sprouting ability of some tree species into systematized methods of providing forest products.

A sprouting stump (coppicing)

Pollarding with thenew sprouts harvested

Arrow stocks derivedfrom pollarding

Legacy of pollardingin a beech forest ,England

Medieval forest management (Coppice)

Coppice silviculture withstandards (60yr rotation)

Shadedtrees areselected as standards 60

404040

Legacy of the coppice methodstill used in Great Britain withchestnut forest

Are you getting this Are you getting this right!?right!?

Next day: a visitor!

Come on, let’s move on!

Let’s go to England during the times of Henry VII and his son, Henry VIII.

1485-1509 1491-1547

• During Henry VIIth reign (and before), England imported just about everything – including armaments.

• Henry VIIth was shrewd and managed to contain the war-like goals of Spain and France by marrying his son Arthur to Catherine, daughter of the King of Spain.

A tiny bit of history

Caterína de Aragon

• Henry VIIth also replenished the treasury after it was emptied by the War of the Roses (1399-1485).

• Henry VIIIth married Catherine after Arthur died, but Catherine never had a son – and all that Henry VIIIth bad publicity started from this!

Tiny bit of history continued:

Henry VIIIth:

(1) started with a full treasury and

(2) made lots of enemies, so he decreed that England would have an arms industry and a first class Navy.

Iron ore mining and iron foundries flourished and the beech-oak forests of Sussex were disappearing!

Cannon factory

Devastation ofthe forests

• Bills were introduced in Parliament:- “for the planting and setting woods of trees- for the increase and preservation of woods- for hedgerows not to be put to coals- to avoid iron mills within 24mi of London- to avoid making new iron mills in Sussex”

• None of these bills passed, guaranteeing a huge conflict between industrialists and ordinary citizens over a rapidly dwindling wood supply and “loss of our surrounding beauty.”

• Henry VIIIth essentially established the British Navy and Elizabeth Ist carried on its massive construction.

• Oak especially from Sussex was preferred by shipwrights.

• Beech and elm also were used.

• Repairing four of these ships: 1,740 oak trees & to build a new one took2,000 oaks.

Oaks were trained togrow for ship parts.

16th century shaping oak planking for the Mary Rose.

Shaping top piecefrom oak

In studying history, we know that important events, are connected.

Let’s connect the British Navy with German forestry.

Later in this course we’ll connect British, French & German and U.S. forestry.

The question is, how long did the wooden-navies of the 17th century last?

Maybe a few decades -- Shipworms!!!

Shipworms are mollusks that live in wood: their shell is modified into a wood-drilling bit.

Time out!

Time Out! Let’s mention the sophisticated approaches to forest management that were developing in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France: beginning 18th – 19th century.

GermanScots pinemanagement

German oak forest management

10 Compartments100 Ac/compartment1000 Total acres Each compartment grows 20 cu. units/yr Rotation age = 100yrs

Each age class encompasses 10 yrs.; e.g. 100 yr age-class = 90 – 110 yr-old trees.

C1 = 10yr-old age classC2 = 20 yr-old age class

Cr = 100 yr-old10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

20

200

100

60

140

180

Compartments/ Age-classes

Cub

ic U

nits

Some basic applications of European forestry

Do you all remember that the area of a triangle is,

Area = (AB)(BC) 2

A B

C

?

Allowable cut = Growing Stock (GS) r/2

Von Mantel’s simple formulaVo

lum

e

A

C

B

r = 100 yrs

GS = area inside triangle

GS = (AB)(BC) 2

GS = (100)(200) 2

GS = 10,000 cu unitsYears

200

0

Allowable cut = GS i.e. growing stock r/2

Allowable cut = 10,000 cu units50 yrs

Allowable cut = 200 cu units!

So, for ever and ever you can cut 200 cu units/year.

SUSTAINED YIELD FOREST MANAGEMENT.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

20

200

100

60

140

180

Compartments/ Age-classes

Cub

ic U

nits

Once you setup your managedforest, you cancut 200 cu unitsper year.

That’s the annual growthof the entireforest!

200 cu units

200

10010

All of this intensivemanipulation isthe basic notionbehind the sustainableforestry concept.

20

Age

Volu

me

So, there it is!

• Hands-on classical forestry concepts permeated not only the beginnings of forestry, but also much later into the 20th century.

• Sustained-yield forest management is what was taught to generations of forestry students.

Crosset Lumber Co.Crosset, Ark.: Prof. H.H. Chapman of Yale Universityand his forestry studentsestablished a sustainedyield forest managementsystem in the 1920’s.

Let’s get back to the British Navy and the shipworm problem. Teak (Tectona grandis) is a tree species that is resistant to fungi, insects and shipworms; it’s a tree native to India and Burma. Of course the British desperately wished to grow it and manage it. One thing in their favor, teak grew in forests of the British Empire.

One of the most respected German foresters was Dietrich Brandis (1824-1907); considered to be the father of tropical forestry.

• Appointed as Inspector General of Forests by Queen Victoria;

• Brandis made enormous contributions to forestry in India, Burma, Pakistan, Bangladesh and later to Europe and the U.S.;

• Published >300 books, papers, and reports in English and German on the value of sustainable forestry;

• Single-handedly he created the Indian Forestry College at Dehra Dun, India;

• Became Sir Dietrich Brandis.

Empress of India

Sir Dr. Dietrich Brandis

Brandis’ and his job of managing theteak forests of India and Burma• Determined the:

- teak volume- the growing stock (Gs)- rate of teak growth- allowable cut- cutting budgets etc.

• Developed a forest protection program- forest entomology- forest pathology- excellent fire management system

• Rules on timber purchase, penalties for violations of regulations, and conditions under which land could be cleared.

Brandis in setting out to intensively manage the teak forests of India established large management areas which he called “Conservancies.”

Forest officers in charge in charge of the conservancies, he called “Conservators.”

In 1899, the young American, Gifford Pinchot, met Dietrich Brandis, now retired.

Pinchot formed a firm and devoted attachment to Dr. Brandis that was to last until Brandis’ death in 1907.

Brandis convinced Pinchot to study forestry at the Forest School at Nancy, France. There Pinchot perused his studies far beyond normal dedication. Pinchot later said, “What I should be as a forester without Dr. Brandis makes me tremble.” 1

1 Winters, R.K. 1974. The forest and man. Vantage Press, NY

Pinchot returned to the U.S. and the rest ishistory.

But, he did start the “ Conservation Movement.”

“We’ll find later on what’s next in forestry!”