A case study of forest change in the Swiss lowlands

This paper presents a regional case study of forest development and the his tory of forest use and management in the north-eastern lowlands of Switzerl and during the 19th and 20th centuries. The analysis draws on historical do cuments related to forestry to consider the following aspects of forest cha nge: forest types, growing stock, trees species composition and non-timber forest uses. Based on the data presented, three overlapping periods of fore st use and management can be discerned. The 'period of traditional multiple use' lasted until the second half of the 19th century. From the mid 19th t o the mid 20th century, a 'period of primacy of timber production' occurred . During the 20th century, the 'period of modern multi-impact management' h as developed. For these three periods, groups of main actors, their needs a nd interests, and how they were causing the changes in the aspects under st udy were defined. This procedure of defining periods and the respective gro ups of main actors is a critical link between landscape ecology and history , as changes in demands of the society can be directly linked with changes in land-use and land-cover.