How Białowieża Forest preserved its primevalness? The development of management and protection in the fourteenth−eighteenth centuries

Abstract

ABSTRACT The former royal forests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania present a unique example of centuries-old protection. Based on archival documents and published literature, we analyzed the evolution of the management and protection system of Białowieża Forest in the fourteenth-eighteenth century. The timeframe of our analysis (1386-1795) covers the period of the union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Białowieża Forest (BF, now on the borderland of Poland and Belarus) has been the most prominent example of successful long-term protection efforts. The results present: (1) the evolution of the legal status of BF in 1386-1795, (2) the role this woodland played for the monarchs, (3) the goals of protecting BF's resources, (4) types of threats to the forest environment and methods of counteracting risks and enforcing protection, and (5) the development of the hunting and forest personnel of BF and their duties. The egalitarian character and horizontal structure of that personnel, which existed since the fourteenth century (beaters), by the years 1765-1795 developed into a five-level, hierarchical structure (beaters, rangers, guards, subordinate foresters, and a forester), with differentiated tasks and a high complexity of responsibilities and duties.