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It's interesting to note that these are not natural forests, but essentially man-made tree plantations, reforested since the 18th century after the natural fore
by flohofwoe 3y ago
It's interesting to note that these are not natural forests, but essentially man-made tree plantations, reforested since the 18th century after the natural forests had been eliminated in the centuries before mainly because of ore mining. Same story further to the south-east in the Ore Mountains.
Getting rid of the spruce tree mono culture and letting a mixed forest regrow will be a good thing even if it will take a century or more (that's at least what the strategy seems to be in Ore Mountains).
- davidw 3y agoI wonder how many genuinely "old growth" forests are left in Europe and where they are. This lists a few without much detail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_old-growth_forests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_old-growth_forests
- flohofwoe 3y agoApparently parts of Ruegen island are "old forest" and some patches here in there in nature reserves, but I guess one could argue that even the old Slavic and Germanic tribes already "cultivated" their forests.
- dbrgn 3y agoThe Swiss National Park was mostly untouched since 1914: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_National_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_National_Park However, that probably does not qualify as old growth. The list you linked to does not list any forest in Switzerland.
- kiney 3y agoIn germany there is basically none left. But there are forests that have been planted centuries ago and are relatively undisturbed since then
- dahwolf 3y agoHere you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%82owie%C5%BCa_Forest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia%C5%82owie%C5%BCa_Forest
- MichaelZuo 3y agoThis seems remarkable from someone who grew up in Toronto, where chunks of ancient forests (since the ice sheet retreated ~12kya ) are scattered everywhere.