USE and Management

Abstract

In this Chapter I evaluate how forest use and management since the last Glaciation changed the forests. On the different continents, beech use and forest conversion have had different intensities. Intensive forest use and management have a long history in Europe, but a much shorter history in eastern North America. The history of forest management shows how forest composition or structure have been manipulated, and how this affects current forests, even after long term natural development (Koop, 1989). Large differences in management or lack of management among continents may explain part of the difference in forest structure and woody species diversity between European and North American beech forests.