How do borders choose trees?
September 20, 2011 2:55 AM Subscribe
Why are the majority of forested trees in Brandenburg firs and upon crossing the Polish border into Lubusz Voivodeship they are all Birch?
I assume that there was a lot of deforestation during the war and post-war reconstruction and that these were separate planting decisions made at the government level. However after several rounds of Google I can't find any references, my German is terrible and my Polish doesn't exist.
I assume that there was a lot of deforestation during the war and post-war reconstruction and that these were separate planting decisions made at the government level. However after several rounds of Google I can't find any references, my German is terrible and my Polish doesn't exist.
In other words, I don't think it was on purpose, just that's what happened.
posted by notsnot at 3:15 AM on September 20, 2011
posted by notsnot at 3:15 AM on September 20, 2011
Response by poster: notsnot, ok so if both pieces of land where once one territory, and both forests (which where contiguous, save for the Oder) were destroyed at the same time - the firs would have had to been planted and the birch would have grown in the untended to wreckage?
posted by metsauce at 3:30 AM on September 20, 2011
posted by metsauce at 3:30 AM on September 20, 2011
the majority of forested trees in Europe have been harvested and re-planted for since about the 14th century so it is not surprising that different planting schemes meet at national borders.
posted by three blind mice at 3:52 AM on September 20, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by three blind mice at 3:52 AM on September 20, 2011 [3 favorites]
Yeah, at least in my area (NH), birch is a strong enough pioneer species that it is basically a weed. It fills in surprisingly quickly.
posted by kaszeta at 5:03 AM on September 20, 2011
posted by kaszeta at 5:03 AM on September 20, 2011
IANAF, but I will hazard a guess that it's not to do with birch as a pioneer species.
I think it may be that Polish forests have been less intensively developed and benefit from more enlightened forestry which aims to give the traditional environment some consideration.
In Germany by contrast unfettered capitalism has slapped in whatever trees will yield the quickest, easiest profit, including non-native varieties which have significant environmental disadvantages.
I could be wrong, Your Trees May Vary, etc
posted by Segundus at 5:17 AM on September 20, 2011
I think it may be that Polish forests have been less intensively developed and benefit from more enlightened forestry which aims to give the traditional environment some consideration.
In Germany by contrast unfettered capitalism has slapped in whatever trees will yield the quickest, easiest profit, including non-native varieties which have significant environmental disadvantages.
I could be wrong, Your Trees May Vary, etc
posted by Segundus at 5:17 AM on September 20, 2011
I think it may be that Polish forests have been less intensively developed and benefit from more enlightened forestry which aims to give the traditional environment some consideration.
In Germany by contrast unfettered capitalism has slapped in whatever trees will yield the quickest, easiest profit, including non-native varieties which have significant environmental disadvantages.
Not to derail, and IANAF either, but in general the eastern bloc countries had fairly exploitative environmental policies, and the border there was between Poland and East Germany, and capitalism was hardly fettered in Western Germany. No one would call them "enlightened".
One significant exception to this that may be relevant to this question is that the border areas - more so along the "iron curtain" but even between two soviet bloc states - typically had a wide exclusion zones. Sometimes these were clear cut to give border guards better visibility. (In others absence of tourism, agriculture or other activity encouraged natural forest activity.) Polish and German government may have simply planted different trees to fill in the border area clear-cutting; or birch may have filled in naturally on the Polish side, based on previous answers.
lear-cutting on the Polish side may encourage birch growth in Poland; benign neglect or on the German side had other biological outcomes.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 6:15 AM on September 20, 2011
In Germany by contrast unfettered capitalism has slapped in whatever trees will yield the quickest, easiest profit, including non-native varieties which have significant environmental disadvantages.
Not to derail, and IANAF either, but in general the eastern bloc countries had fairly exploitative environmental policies, and the border there was between Poland and East Germany, and capitalism was hardly fettered in Western Germany. No one would call them "enlightened".
One significant exception to this that may be relevant to this question is that the border areas - more so along the "iron curtain" but even between two soviet bloc states - typically had a wide exclusion zones. Sometimes these were clear cut to give border guards better visibility. (In others absence of tourism, agriculture or other activity encouraged natural forest activity.) Polish and German government may have simply planted different trees to fill in the border area clear-cutting; or birch may have filled in naturally on the Polish side, based on previous answers.
lear-cutting on the Polish side may encourage birch growth in Poland; benign neglect or on the German side had other biological outcomes.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 6:15 AM on September 20, 2011
You're right, I was talking rubbish about "unfettered capitalism" and all that. But I still suspect that the underlying factor is a difference of policy. For German attitudes, see the link I gave above: for a short view of Polish forestry since 1945, see this.
posted by Segundus at 6:35 AM on September 20, 2011
posted by Segundus at 6:35 AM on September 20, 2011
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(I didn't know this, I looked it up, surmised based on aspen trees, a distant relative species, being a pioneer species to such an extent that it's pretty prevalent in burned-out areas of the US mountain west.)
posted by notsnot at 3:14 AM on September 20, 2011