Although wood-pastures are
cultural and natural landscape elements of international importance, virtually
nothing is known about their status and distribution in Eastern Europe in the wider conservation community.
 |
Figure 1. Ancient wood-pasture
in Southern Transylvania.
|
Although Romania is potentially rich in wood-pastures,
only those from Southern (Saxon) Transylvania
benefited of habitat surveys. Wood-pastures from Southern
Transylvania were formed by the Saxon ethnic group through rearing
the forests and grazing them with pigs, cattle, sheep and from the 18th century, buffalo. Each Saxon village had historically at least one wood-pasture
in its vicinity. Wood-pastures from Southern Transylvania
are dominated by oak (Quercus
robur, Q. petraea), and occasionally by beech (Fagus sylvatica) and hornbeam (Carpinus
betulus).
Wood-pastures from Southern Transylvania are excellent systems for those
interested in historical ecology, the history of nature resource governance,
the dynamic of traditional social-ecological systems, and for ecologists
(Akeroyd 2003, Hartel and Moga 2010).
The Saxon area of Transylvania has a long history of forest grazing. Saxons
were allowed to manage their forests by the very beginning of their arrival in Transylvania, by a document commonly referred as ‘Andreanum’ (The
Golden Charter of Transylvanian Saxons, 1224). Forest
management at those times included also grazing in forests. A document
originating in the 16th century showed that Transylvanian Saxons
asked István Báthory (the Prince of Transylvania and the King
of Poland, the Grand Duke of Lithuania) to empower local authorities to control
grazing with sheep and pigs in the oak forests in their territory (Tescula and
Gota 2007, Hartel and Moga 2010).
In bigger towns like Sighisoara
and Medias, wood-pastures were also increasingly used for cultural events from
the end of the 19th century.
The cultural-traditional
relationships between people and wood-pastures sharply changed in the 20th
century after the establishment of the communist regime. Many big, old trees
were cut in this period. Old Saxons from Sighisoara relate that the trees from
the Breite wood-pasture were so large that cutting them was impossible: explosives
were used to remove then, and they were pulled out with heavy machinery.
Changes didn’t stop with the
collapse of the communism in 1989. From an ethnic-social perspective, a
significant change was the massive exodus of Saxons from Transylvania.
With the collapse of the traditional Saxon institutions, the traditional links
between wood-pastures and their forming and maintaining culture were broken. The
grazing regime also changed in the Saxon area of Transylvania:
a massive reduction occurred in the number of cows along with an almost
complete disappearance of buffalos, due to social and institutional changes. This
reduction in grazing triggered the development of shrubs and the forest
regeneration in wood-pastures. Many large oaks were overgrown and killed
by regenerating hornbeam.
 |
Figure 3. Hornbeam development in an
ancient wood-pasture where grazing was stopped.
|
Since 2007 European Union agri-environment
payments have been available, and farmers are using this opportunity. They
clean the shrubs from wood-pastures and start to use them again. Evidence of shrub
clearance was noticed in 10 out of 42 wood-pastures inventoried in 2012. Because
financial incentives continue to favour sheep grazing, the number of sheep has dramatically
increased in these landscapes in recent years. The frequency of uncontrolled
pasture burning is also showing an increasing tendency. Many people believe
that the agri-environment payment system indirectly contributes to the increase
of pasture burning, although such burning is illegal. Pasture burnings appear
to contribute to the dramatic decline of old, veteran trees. In 2012, more than
40 veteran trees (with trunk circumference of more than 4 meters) were burned
in this way, while most of the 155 oaks with more than 4.7 meter trunk circumference
inventoried in 2009 and 2010 bear the signs of burning in the past. Old, dying
veteran trees are more likely to be injured by people than the young trees.
People often cut ancient trees to use them as firewood in winter, while other
trees are burned deliberately. A number of old trees collapse due to natural causes
(such as lightening and drought). The sharp degradation and disappearance of
ancient trees requires the urgent implementation of conservation measures designed
to protect them.
 |
Figure 4. One of the many ancient trees burned
in a wood-pasture near Sighisoara (spring, 2012).
The fire was extinguished by a fireman.
|
Even with the above dramatic
picture about the Transylvanian wood-pastures, we have reasons to believe that
the next decades will catch the Saxon region of Transylvania
with wood-pastures and ancient trees – and their degradation will be stopped. First,
evidence about the distribution, status and ecological value of wood-pastures is
increasing. Second, nature conservation, ecological education and cultural
tourism initiatives are increasing in the region – ancient wood-pastures can be
an important component of these initiatives. In this respect successful
initiatives were the ‘Find the oldest tree’ and the ‘Oak day’ of the Mihai
Eminescu Trust with tens of schools involved and wide media coverage. One
of us (TH) give lectures in 17 schools for local communities about the
ecological and cultural value of the scattered and ancient trees in 2012.
Third, there are many organizations interested in nature and cultural heritage
conservation. Fourth, the international visibility of the wood-pastures and the
region as a whole is increasing. The region tends to be attractive not only to high
profile research teams from Western Europe but
also to non-academics interested in nature. In combination, these various
activities appear to be creating fertile ground for establishing new links between
wood-pastures and people – to the benefit of both.
 |
Figure 5. The biggest known living oak from
Southern Transylvania (in the village Mercheasa)
and the kids who find it:
Dana Pelei and Sebastian Pelei (General School, Rupea)
– the winners of the competition ‘Find the oldest tree’.
The oak have 930 cm circumference.
|
References
Akeroyd J. 2003. A
Transylvanian wood-pasture. Plant Talk
34: 34-37.
Hartel T., Moga C.I. 2010.
Good practice management of wood-pasture habitats. Mihai Eminescu Trust. (in Romanian)
Tescula N., Gota A. 2007.
The history of the Breite wood-pasture. In: The
management plan of the Breite wood-pasture reserve. (in Romanian)
Authors
Tibor Hartel – Mihai Eminescu Trust, Sighisoara,
Romania; Leuphana University,
Lüneburg, Germany
Árpád Szapanyos – Ecotransilvania Association, Sighisoara, Romania.
E-mail: picos_a@yahoo.com
