Place names as indicators of traditional forest management in seminatural landscapes. The case of Cameros (La Rioja, Spain)

Abstract

Former grazing landscapes, shaped through almost a millennium in the mountains of La Rioja (Spain), have evolved into a mosaic of forests and shrublands once the outstanding transhumance activities collapsed in the mid-20th century due to population decrease. Likewise, agricultural lands were abandoned in a process of ‘rural exodus’ from the countryside to towns within the framework of industrialization and urban sprawl in Spain since the 1960s. However, some place names still indicate these earlier activities, such as the use of fire as a technique for pasture renewal, communal forest thickets [dehesas] temporarily excluded from livestock raising, sustainable management of forests resources (wood, fuel, charcoal), agricultural crops etc. even if nowadays the earlier land uses and covers have changed into recently spread forests. We present a typical selection of examples that show the importance of toponymy in conceiving and explaining the cultural heritage of past seminatural landscapes, particularly of those whose main aspect today is secondary wilderness.