The impact of traditional land use on woodlands: a case study in the Spanish Central System

Abstract

We analyse the consequences of traditional use on forest characteristics during the last millennium in a mountain area of Spanish Central System, using information contained in documents, as well as cartography and toponymy. In the Middle Ages the local forests were transformed into municipal dehesas (communal fenced woods), communal wood pastures and arable lands. Pinewoods located in areas above 1500 m decreased because of the high grazing pressure. In the fifteenth century two manors were created ( Buitrago and Montesclaros). Livestock became an important factor during this period. As a consequence an open wood was formed and oak coppices were also abundant (the felling of this species was at that time permitted by the Ordinances). At the end of the period of traditional management, pinewoods were disappearing and the main forest areas were located only in municipal dehesas. The area of beech was reduced in favour of melojo oak and scrub, due to the lower sprouting capacity of the beeches and their lower drought tolerance. Open wood pastures remain only in the eastern part of the study area, where there has been less intense human intervention. After the abolition of manors in the nineteenth century, arable land increased in the western part of the area, which had a higher population density. In the twentieth century, both human and livestock pressure decreased substantially and pine species were reintroduced by reforestation. The primitive savannah was transformed into ‘infilled savannah’, while temperate species spread around their refuges in municipal woods.