Arvanitis, Panteleimon (2011) Traditional forest management in Psiloritis, Crete [c. 1850 - 2011]: integrating archives, oral history and GIS. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12324/1/P_Arvanitis.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] Traditional forest management in Psiloritis, Crete [c. 1850 - 2011]: integrating archives, oral history and GIS Pantelis Arvanitis, MSc. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2011 Abstract The research scope of this thesis focused on traditional forest management practices in eastern Psiloritis Mountain in Crete, employing oral history, archival information and GIS. The main focus was over the end of the 19th century till present. The useful and productive forest of the past, extensively exploited by local populations, is often considered nowadays as unproductive and thus neglected by modern society. Historical and social incidences influenced the behaviour of local population towards natural resources and their interaction with their natural environment has changed over time. Therefore, different traditional management practices were applied locally in the past and recorded in this thesis. A unique forest landscape was evolved based on a complex system of interactions among the trees with animals and the human population that were dependent on the forest. The use of GIS helped unveil a wealth of information further elucidating archival material and explain better different geographical phenomena. Several management practices of the past contributed for the creation of a rich biodiversity and cultural elements helped shape the forest landscape of Psiloritis. The importance of this traditional management was highlighted with regard to the conservation of the forest today. In this way the thesis shows that forest history can help modern forestry to establish a more effective management of the forests for the benefit both of the environment and the society. i Acknowledgements To begin with, I would like to thank all the participants in this research, especially the local people of the villages I visited. The research would not have been possible without the valuable information they provided, that was often a part of their personal history. I would like to thank the States Scholarship Foundation of Greece (IKY) for its funding support and also the Heraklion Forest Direction that supported me all these years. Moreover, I would like to thank all the staff and students in the School of Geography that were there when I needed help. To all the friends I made in Nottingham and had long breaks during our studies for a tea or Greek coffee. To my family and friends in Greece that helped me and spent their time with me during the field work. Especially thanks to Susanne Seymour for her comments at the annual year reviews which helped to organise effectively the research. Finally, I would like to express my fullest gratitude thanks to my supervisors, Charles Watkins and Georgina Endfield for their support and guidance. They were always available when I needed them and made the studies pleasant. Especial thanks for their valuable corrections and suggestions for this thesis during the writing up process, which has proven essential. ii Abstract ...................................................... i Acknowledgements .......................................... ii List of figures ................................................. vii List of Tables .................................................. xii Abbreviations ................................................ xiii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................... 1 Chapter 2: Literature review............................. 6 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................. 6 2.2 How forest history starts ............................................................ 6 2.3 Research in forest history ........................................................... 8 2.4 Written sources ....................................................................... 12 2.5 Pollen analysis ........................................................................ 14 2.6 Different views of forest ........................................................... 16 2.7 Ancient forest ......................................................................... 18 2.8 Traditional management ........................................................... 20 2.9 Change or no change ............................................................... 22 2.10 GIS in forest and historical research ......................................... 24 2.11 A new era in Geography ......................................................... 26 2.12 Current trends in Forestry ....................................................... 27 2.13 Conclusion ............................................................................ 29 Chapter 3: Methodology.................................. 31 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................ 31 3.2 Issues in forest history research ................................................ 32 3.3 Choosing the methodology ....................................................... 33 3.4 Selection of the study area ....................................................... 33 3.5 Initial contacts ........................................................................ 34 3.6 Oral History ............................................................................ 35 3.7 Interviews .............................................................................. 36 3.8 Written sources ....................................................................... 43 3.9 National statistics and censuses information ............................... 49 3.10 Aerial photographs, Maps and Photographs ............................... 49 3.11 Physical and geopolitical data .................................................. 50 3.12 Field observation ................................................................... 52 iii 3.13 GIS analysis .......................................................................... 52 3.14 Conclusion ............................................................................ 53 Chapter 4: Context elements of eastern Psiloritis...................................... 54 4.1 Physiographic and biotic characteristics of Crete and Psiloritis Mountain .............................................................................. 54 4.2 Census information .................................................................. 62 4.3 Forest ownership ..................................................................... 67 4.4 A general historiography of Forest Commission in Greece. ............ 72 4.5 Crete and forest production till 19th century A.D. ......................... 80 4.6 Forest production in the 20th century.......................................... 87 4.7 Conclusion .............................................................................. 94 Chapter 5: Timber and charcoal from eastern Psiloritis...................................... 95 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................ 95 5.2 Timber and charcoal in recent written sources ............................. 96 5.3 The use of wood in Psiloritis .................................................... 103 5.4 Wood implements .................................................................. 109 5.5 Charcoal: a dark, artistic result from wood. .............................. 116 5.6 Charcoal in Psiloritis Mountain ................................................. 116 5.7 Conclusion ............................................................................ 131 Chapter 6: Firewood ..................................... 133 6.1 Introduction .......................................................................... 133 6.2 Firewood types and uses ........................................................ 133 6.3 Labour and commercial values of firewood ................................ 142 6.4 Firewood collection stopped ...................................................