Call for Papers – The Social, Economical, and Environmental Consequences of Introducing Forest Management at the Turn of 18th and 19th Centuries in Central Europe

Rural History 2023 Conference

Proposal Deadline: 31 January 2023

Organizer: Tomasz Zwiazek (Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences)

Chair: Peter Szabo (Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences and Mazaryk University)

The introduction of forest management in central Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries had a significant impact on the social, economic, and environmental transformation of this area. In the proposed session, we want to focus specifically on the moment when forest management concepts were introduced, but we are also open to papers on the long-term consequences associated with this process. We believe that a session is of particular importance in the context of the European Union’s plans to return almost a third of Europe’s land to the wilderness by 2030.

We particularly encourage the following topics:

• Introduction of alien species in the structure of ancient forests
• Transition from natural to managed forests
• Impact of forest management on forest animals
• Development and decline of forest settlements
• Development of forest law
• Material culture of forestry officials
• Forest cartography

Feature Image: “Deforestation central Europe | Rodungen Mitteleuropa” by Astro_Alex is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.