VIRGIN FORESTS AND FOREST RESERVES IN ... - Natura 2000

124 Forestry in Slovenia as a Proof of Nature’s Unpredictability, Bifurcation, etc.
screw), but from forester's point of view he was famous because he started to develop
landscape planning already in those days; not only to re-establish the forest, but also to
improve life on the Karst in its entity. Ressel was an individual beginner, and was
interdisciplinary oriented. His sparkling ideas and a mass notion were needed to set this
belief in motion. Today, after 1000 years of destruction and ruining of the countryside,
approximately 70,000 ha of new forests - partly planted, partly naturally regenerated with
a growing stock of approximately 120 t/ha - are striving very successfully in the course of
re-vitalisation of the landscape in this part of Slovenia (new trends of life, new energy
householding in the landscape, etc.). In parallel with Ressel's activities, other foresters
self-initiatively started to follow similar ways but there was a slight difference in opinion
between Ressel and these foresters, who looked at the problem less holistically. The Karst
area of present-day Slovenia can be shown as an example of how to renew forests in a
devastated landscape world-wide.
Hufnagel and his 'Selection Cutting System'
At the end of the 19 th century Leopold Hufnagel, the well known Austrian forester,
decided to change the treatment of forests belonging to big forest owners in the southern
Slovenia, the forest enterprise of Auersperg family (many thousands of ha). He started
with regular selection silvicultural system in the forest of Abieti-Fagetum dinaricum at the
time when Austrian forests were heavily overcut, and there were no large dimension trees.
At the same time in the forest management plan Hufnagel declared some virgin forests to
be protected. This was the first time that virgin forests were protected as a forest area. In
those days this was done mainly for hunting purposes.
Schollmayer's revolutionary turning-point and a different way
of thinking in forestry
Schollmayer was the director of a huge forest property belonging to the Windischgrätz
family in Postojna. He developed the so called 'Control Method of Postojna' at the
beginning of the 20 th century. Heavily overcut forests in this area, due to the construction
of the southern railway (Vienna-Trieste), and the severely devastated Karst area in the
vicinity, were the reason for his efforts. This new way in forestry meant the beginning of
scientifically and practically oriented 'cognitive way' in forest management (area of
25,000 ha). This happened parallel to the introduction of the Control Method in
Switzerland. There was quite a difference between the Swiss and the Postojna method. In
Postojna this method was intended for a huge area of forest. At the same time some
additional investigations were carried out in Postojna. This revolutionary step happened at
the time when, for example, in Styria (Austria) approximately 4500 farmers and forest
owners bankrupted because of completely ruined forests, and the same was happening in
other parts of Europe (JOHANN 1985). Schollmayer was multidisciplinary oriented and an
active forester whose basic ideas were accepted and later perfected as a general rule in
Slovenia in the distant future.
A brief remark: There were some exceptions. At the same time farmers already practised
the so-called ‘Bauerliche Plenterung’ and tried to practice sustainable forestry. This
phenomenon was very important but far less successful.