How do we use forests?

People's demands have always changed the forest and the forest has always changed people. The latter is impressively demonstrated by groundbreaking findings in forest or material research or in periods of forest destruction such as in the 17th/18th century. Every form of forest use encouraged people to secure and increase their yields through forms of cultivation. Germany has long been characterized by cultivated landscapes, not by nature.

For centuries, several types of use have often been practiced simultaneously in one piece of forest. Traces of earlier forms of forest use are often visible for a long time. In the 17th century, overexploitation and exploitation led to a shortage of raw materials and subsequent generations were faced with devastated, woodless landscapes and poverty. In the 18th century, the idea of sustainability was born out of this need. It quickly attracted a great deal of attention. From then on, only as much wood was to be felled for construction and heating as would grow back: sustainability was an agreement between generations of foresters and lumberjacks. Since then, forests have been left less and less to chance. Forests, change and knowledge are not only inherited, but continuously optimized. Forest developments are observed and influenced with foresight. Types of use and associated forms of management are better coordinated in a confined space in order to reduce or prevent risks and crises. Sustainability has grown into a global dialog between all parts of society. Today, the term sustainability encompasses the long-term use of all natural resources.

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