Forestry is not a modern invention, and neither is large-scale clear-cutting. The Romans were responsible for massive deforestation in large parts of their empire: for the construction of houses, ships and military camps, for heating, for kilns or to create space for growing settlements and the necessary food production.
Forest populations recovered during the post-empire migration period, but a few centuries later the great clearing began.
The “Planzt Mat” campaign is helping restore Luxembourg’s forests
According to Patrick Losch, in the Middle Ages – unlike in Roman times – forests were cleared not only in the south of the country, but throughout Luxembourg in order to obtain agricultural land.
Losch is president of the Hëllef fir d’Natur (help for nature) foundation, with which Mediahuis Luxembourg, the publisher of the Luxembourg Times, are jointly conducting the Planzt Mat campaign. Losch explains that the many villages in the north of the country with name endings such as -rod and -scheid point to this development.
Clearing for food production
In an article on the “History of Forests in Central Europe in the Last Millennium”, the senior forestry scientist Reinhard Mosandl describes the High Middle Ages as a “time of great clearances”. In addition, as Mosandl goes on to write, pigs were driven into the forests for fattening, where they ate acorns, for example. “But there were not only pigs, but also cows, sheep and goats in the forest, and their activities were certainly not without consequences.”
Patrick Losch is president of the Hëllef fir d’Natur foundation © Photo credit: Laurent Sturm/LW-Archiv
In view of the management of the remaining forest areas at that time, Losch said: “during this time, the substance of the forest was severely impaired, albeit unknowingly, because it was used so intensively.”
From land to raw material requirements
While the land on which the forests stood was initially prioritised for food, the wood itself was increasingly needed as a source of energy from the late Middle Ages onwards. This was because the cities were growing and therefore needed more firewood, as Mosandl points out. In addition, various sectors of the economy were so energy-intensive that “for the first time there were shortages in the wood supply” during the Renaissance. Losch recalls, for example, lime burning, glass production and iron smelting as flourishing but extremely energy-intensive industries.
Saving Luxembourg’s dying forests
Commenting on pre-industrial iron processing in Luxembourg, Losch stated: “Today we talk about iron ore from the Minett in the south of the country, but there were already turf iron ores that were collected and utilised before that. Charcoal was used as fuel to produce iron in craft workshops in the Gutland [editor’s note: central and western Luxembourg], where there was sufficient charcoal.”
At the same time, the leather industry emerged, particularly in the north of Luxembourg. Oak poles were peeled, the bark was sold to tanneries for the tanning agents it contained and the remaining wood was used as firewood.
Cultivation of tan hedges
Although it was known that the soils in the Gutland delivered better yields in some cases, such oak-peeled forests or tan hedges were created almost exclusively in the northern Éislek region, as the Nature and Forestry Administration (ANF), then known as the Water and Forestry Administration, wrote in a 2006 brochure.
In the municipality of Kiischpelt, the tradition of Louschläissens was long remembered at the Lohfest © Photo credit: Ginette Clees/LW-Archiv
According to the ANF publication, the trees in the Loh hedges were cut down every 15 to 30 years. Until new trees grew, the deforested areas were also used for agricultural purposes, to grow rye, buckwheat and sometimes as pasture for cattle. “This interim agricultural use, which no longer exists today, deprived the soil of many nutrients and thus led to a reduction in the bark yield of the tan hedge.”
Industrialisation ‘saved’ forests
In 1795, Luxembourg, which had been conquered by French revolutionary troops, was incorporated (along with parts of Belgium and Germany) into the so-called Forests administrative department – although the symbolic designation “had nothing to do with the actual situation of Luxembourg’s forests, as they had reached their smallest extent with a forest cover of only 29%,” as historian Isabelle Bernard-Lesceux describes in the ANF anniversary publication 175 Joer am Déngscht vu Mënsch an Natur.
The fact that over the centuries, laws were repeatedly drawn up to regulate the management of the forests apparently could not prevent them from being damaged on a large scale.
Trees in need: how Luxembourg is protecting its forests
From the middle of the 19th century, industrialisation started in Luxembourg. When talking about this, Losch utters the initially surprising sentence: “the forests in the Gutland were saved by hard coal.” His reasoning: “around 1850, the forests were in a very poor state. There was practically only coppice with very thin stands, the forests were totally depleted. Due to the loss of demand for charcoal, the forest was allowed to grow again.”
In the long term, however, industrial coal utilisation released too much carbon dioxide into the air, Losch added – with the devastating consequences that are visible today, including for the forest.
The industry in the south of the country was fuelled by hard coal – an opportunity for the forests to recover. However, the industry was not environmentally friendly © Photo credit: LW-Archiv
Around the same time, in 1840, the forestry administration, today’s ANF, was founded. Michael Wolter, ANF director at the time, wrote in the anniversary publication: “as a result of the massive use of wood by industry in the 18th and 19th centuries and due to grazing and gathering activities of all kinds in the forest, the forests were in a deplorable state overall.”
It is therefore no wonder that not only the monitoring but also the restoration of damaged forests has been one of the authority’s tasks since its foundation.
Plant Mat! campaign: you can help the forest too
Anyone interested can make a donation to help rejuvenate the forest area in Niederfeulen.
These donations are tax-deductible and can be made via Payconiq or via the donation account of the Hëllef fir d’Natur Foundation – LU89 1111 0789 9941 0000 with the note “Planzt mat!” – can be made.
With a donation of €100 or more, you can help to restore a 100 square metre plot in the forest area in Niederfeulen.
State of the forests today
In the north, however, tannin extraction remained an economic mainstay because “people in the north were dependent on the cultivation to earn some extra money,” as Losch categorises the continued existence of the tan hedges. “After the Second World War, spruce trees were planted and one sin was replaced by another, as we can see today.”
As Losch concludes, Luxembourg’s forests had already changed before the Middle Ages and before the Romans, whether due to climate or human influence. “A diverse mixed oak forest, as we would like it to be today, was still naturally widespread until 3,500 BC, when man with the bronze axe and later the iron axe began to damage it. It was able to survive in the climate of the time, which was very similar to the climate we would expect today.”
The delicate balance between wild animals and health forests
It is has been historically proven that the oak and its companion species can survive in a warmer and drier environment, concludes Losch, looking back and at the same time looking forward to the future. However, this is only on the condition that mankind manages to stabilise the extent of global warming as planned.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translated using an AI tool and edited by Aaron Grunwald.)
