The Value of an 1827 Cadastre Map in the Rehabilitation of Ecosystem Services in the Křemže Basin, Czech Republic

Abstract

The analysis of land use and landscape structure changes over the last two centuries has allowed us to articulate proposals for the conservation and the rehabilitation of natural, aesthetic and historical landscape values in the Křemže Basin. Landscape assessment was based mainly on information extracted from Stabile Cadastre maps drawn in 1826–1827, supplemented by military maps from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and 1950s aerial photographs obtained historical archives. In the early nineteenth century, the landscape reflected a spatial order and a balance of regulatory and provisional ecosystem services as well as aesthetic appeal. The evolution of land use practices brought about by the industrial revolution period was associated with structural changes, such as fragmentation and homogenisation that impacted negatively on environmental stability. The restoration of selected elements, crucial for the preservation of landscape character as well as of cultural and aesthetic values, provides a chance to enhance the current structural diversity. This is of paramount importance for stabilising landscape functions and ecosystem services such as water cycling, nutrient processing, support to biodiversity, aesthetic appeal and transfer of educational values. The Stabile Cadastre maps offer an ideal baseline for streamlining the rehabilitation of selected natural, aesthetic and historical landscape features that can be reappraised during participatory processes with the contribution of local communities.