DefinePK

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study examines the environmental changes in the Kaghan valley from a historical point of view. Man-induced alterations of the forests vegetation are reflected by the prevalence of nitrophilous weeds, light-loving elements as well as unplalatable and browsing resistant species. A detailed vegetation mapping has revealed that the potential forest areas have decreased by c. 50%. The historical transformation processes from forests into farm and rangelands can be differentiated into several periods with varying degrees of intensity. It turns out that the dynamics of landscape change are heavily dependent on the general socio-economic conditions. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the Kaghan Valley was very thinly populated. Substantial changes in the distribution of forests and agricultural lands occurred in the first two decades of British rule from 1847 to 1867. The protective influence of the Forest Department, founded in 1864, considerably slowed down these transformation processes. Up to the turn of the century the scenery of the present-day cultural landscape has been created in its basic patterns. In the twentieth century the quantitative loss of forest cover is negligible. The last decades are rather marked by negative structural alterations within the forest stands and along the forest margins.