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Research:
*Forest
history
*Environmental history
*Dissertation work about the
introduction of forestry in Sweden
1809-1860
Teaching:
Human
ecology, environmental history,
environmental history in education
Keywords:
forest
history, environmental history,
environmental education,
bidodiversity
Publications
include:
Eliasson,
P. 1996: Skogsbristen och
miljöhistoriens källor
//Linnér, Björn-Ola &
Svidén, John: Miljöhistoria
på väg. Linköping
1996
Eliasson,
P. 1997: Från agrart utmarksbruk
till industriellt
skogsbruk.//Östlund, Lars (red.):
Mäniskan och skogen.
Stockholm
Eliasson,
P 1998: Eek uthi stoor myckenhet.
Miljöhistorien och den biologiska
mångfalden. // Johansson, M (red):
Miljöhistoria idag och imorgon.
Karlstad.
Eliasson,
P.- Hamilton, G. 1999: Blifver ondt att
förena sigh - Några linjer i
den svenska lagstiftningen om skog och
utmark.// Pettersson, R. (red.):
Skogshistorisk forskning i Europa och
Nordamerika. Kungliga Skogs- och
lantbruksakademien. - Stockholm
Eliasson,
P. & Nilsson, S.G. 2000: Rättat
efter skogarnes aftagande - den svenska
ekens miljöhistoria.//
Bebyggelsehistorisk Tidskrift nr 37.
Eliasson,
P. (under utg.): At skjörda af en
skog så snart den blifvit mogen -
etablering av högskogsbruk och
trakthyggen i Sverige.// Från
Linné till det moderna
samhället. Historiska
media/Historiska institutionen. Lunds
universitet. -
Lund.
Eliasson,
P. & Nilsson, S.G. 2000: Rättat
efter skogarnes aftagande - den svenska
ekens miljöhistoria.//
Bebyggelsehistorisk Tidskrift nr
37.
The
swedish oak during the 18th and 19th
centuries - aspects of quantities,
qualities and biodiversity
The
article review historical research about
the quantities and qualities of oak timber
in western Europe during the last 500
years and the most important laws
regulating oak cuttings. In Sweden, some
regulation of the use of oak trees was
present in the regional medieval laws.
However, it was the king Gustaf Vasa that
first issued a law in 1558 that prohibited
the felling without permission by the
state of oak, beech and several other
useful smaller tree and shrub species.
Similar regulations were later released
until the beeches in 1793 and the oaks in
1830 were free to fell by the landowners.
Still, the remaining 40 841 useful timber
oaks counted in 1819-25 on private land
(excluding the noble class) were reserved
for the state in 1830. The land owned by
the noble class was excluded from all
these regulations throughout.
The
strict regulations for the oak have
resulted in an extensive and detailed
documentation of the quantity, quality and
aerial distribution of oak trees in Sweden
mainly from 1729-1832. This material,
almost all still preserved in various
archives, is the basis for the present
analysis.
Around
1730 the proportion of oaks useful for the
navy was still 65% in the interior of
south Sweden where large-scale
exploitation had not started. On the other
hand the corresponding value near the cost
where cuttings had gone on for many years
was only 15%. During the following 100
years most of the remaining timber oaks
were cut, but a high density of old and
partly rotten oak trees were still present
in 1830. One important reason for this was
that cutting of branches along the stem
was encouraged by the state administration
in the eighteenth century to improve the
timber quality. This was taken as an
excuse by farmers to cut off branches that
prevented sunshine to reach the meadows
grass. Then stem rot was initiated.
Secondly, cutting a piece of bark and
marking the 230 341 useful big oaks by the
state administration in 1791-97 often
resulted in initiation of basal stem rot.
Thirdly, annual raking of twigs and small
branches from the hay meadows and then
burning the twigs adjacent to oak stems
also damaged them. Thus, it was not only
the cutting of the oak timber that
resulted in a very high proportion of oaks
without useful timber.
Even
250 years ago the distribution of oaks
over the Swedish landscape was highly
influenced by man, and especially by his
domestic animals. On the "utmark", where
the animals grazed in the summer, the
density of oaks were much lower than on
the "inäga" that was protected from
domestic grazers in summer. This
difference in density of oak trees
increased over the following years so that
in the beginning of the nineteenth century
only a few percent were growing on utmark.
The highest density of oaks was present in
the mowed hay meadows. Since this was also
the land that was most useful for
conversion to arable fields, there was a
massive legal and partly illegal cutting
of old oaks ("vrakekar") in the beginning
of the nineteenth century when the human
population increased strongly in Sweden.
The oaks are described as stag-headed,
hollow, rich in stem branches or with
partly rotten stems.
The
consequences for the high biodiversity
connected to ancient oaks of the changes
in the landscape are discussed. The
thinning of the oak stands and a probable
increase in very old oaks in a half-open
or open situation 200-300 years ago was
favourable for many species. The massive
cutting of most of these oaks 100-200
years ago most likely resulted in
decrease, population fragmentation and
local extinction of species dependent on
ancient oaks.
The
fate of the oak in Sweden illustrates the
management problems when the state and the
private landowners have opposing
interests. Despite the restrictive laws
the state could not in the long term
secure the timber needed for the navy. The
reason for this was that the farmers and
their domestic grazers prevented
regeneration of oaks to a large
extent.
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