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We evaluated the soil chemistry, plant species composition, and forest growth rate on a site where a site amelioration project had been realized 30 years earlier. The initial goal of the project was the improvement of a site that had been degraded by litter raking. We wanted to know which amelioration method produced a sustainable result and how different treatments might be rated by today's standards. Treatments included fertilization, underplanting with N-fixing plants, and a combination of both. The amelioration was combined with stand conversion by means of natural regeneration and spruce underplanting. In all treatments, a spruce-dominated stand replaced the secondary pine stand. The biomass of the formerly recalcitrant forest floor (143 Mg·ha–1) was reduced by 30 to 50% in treated plots, thereby reducing the total soil pool of C, N, and exchangeable cations. The mineral soil of treated plots was enriched with N, Ca, and Mg. An increase in pH was restricted to the forest floor. The C pool of treated soils was much smaller than that of the control plots. However, the loss from the soil was at least partly offset by increased growth rates of the aboveground tree biomass. In treated plots, the stem volume was more than twice that of control plots (38.3 m3). Soil chemical data and the composition of the ground vegetation suggest that even the control plots have changed compared with pre-treatment conditions. Comparison of different blocks of the experiment suggests that the exclusion of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) by fencing was the most significant treatment required for successful stand conversion. Prior to fencing, deer browsing inhibited the establishment of a new stand.

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Forest grazing and litter harvesting are examples of close interrelationships between arable land, pastures and forests, tracing back to the first colonization of the mountainous regions. Vegetable manure had a high value for the farmer whose economy was based mainly on stock breeding, and it was as indispensable for the existence of the farm as fuel wood. However, unrestricted practice could not only greatly damage mountain forests but even endanger their existence. This chapter deals with the measures taken by local populations in order to secure the available natural resources on a long term basis, for the benefit of subsequent generations. In particular, the results of measures aimed at sustainable management have been reviewed and the impact of agroforestry on the preservation of soil fertility, the health of forest stands and the distribution of tree species has been investigated.

Up until the 1970s «Classical Forest History» was regarded, above all in central European countries, predominantly as an empirical science. The discipline was seen as a contribution to a better understanding of the actual situation of a certain forest stand or area and thereby as a support to forest planning. As a logical consequence forest history was very closely joined to forest policy. Although at the time research also included human activities outside the forest, priorities lay with wood production,forest utilization, forest policy, management and planning. Methods and topics changed only gradually. However, while priority was given to matters of sustainable development forest historians also began to focus their scientific research on problems confronting the global woodland. The finding that forests represent the central resource of society showed the way to the implementation of new methods in research and teaching. These methods originated in Zurich but also came to influence research activities in the neighbouring countries. This development consequently resulted in a move towards environmental history. Today research in the field of forest history focuses on the interrelationship between man and forest in a wider context. International and interdisciplinary cooperation and networking thus continue to be of great importance.