Prohibited, but still present: local and traditional knowledge about the practice and impact of forest grazing by domestic livestock in Hungary

Abstract

Background Forests have been grazed for millennia. Around the world, forest grazing by livestock became a controversial management practice, gradually restricted in many countries over the past 250 years. This was also the case in most Central and Eastern European countries, including Hungary, where forest grazing was a legally prohibited activity between 1961 and 2017. Until the 2010s, ecologists and nature conservationists considered it merely as a historical form of forest use. As a result, there is little contemporary scientific information available about the impact of forest grazing on vegetation and the traditional ecological knowledge associated with it. Our aim was to explore and summarize this type of knowledge held by herders in Hungary. Methods We interviewed 58 knowledgeable herders and participated in forest grazing activities in 43 study locations across the country. The results were analysed qualitatively. Results We revealed a living ecological knowledge tradition and practice of forest grazing in native and non-native forest stands. The impact of livestock grazing on native and non-native forests is not considerably different, in the view of the herders. For both forest types, the greatest impact of grazing was the suppression of the shrub layer, while grazing also increased the dominance and palatability (“tameness”) of the grasses. Livestock could cause significant damage to seedlings during forest grazing, but if done with care, grazing could also be an integral part of forestry management. Conclusions Sustainability of current forest grazing practices depends on the depth of local and traditional knowledge applied and herders’ stewardship. We stress the importance of collaborating with holders of local and traditional knowledge in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of livestock grazing on vegetation in temperate forests.

Restoration of gallery forest patches improves recruitment of motacú palms (Attalea princeps) while diversifying and increasing wildlife populations

“…This is consistent with previous research in Beni's palm forests, showing that cattle can damage and reduce understory cover [32], trample and compact forest soils to the detriment of plant growth [34] and affect palm health and fruiting productivity [32]. Our results also align with wider studies reporting structural and compositional simplification of the shrub layer associated with cattle trampling and browsing in other forest eco-types [78][79][80][81] and increases in bare soil in open and forested rangeland habitats [32,82].…”

Preserving for the future the — once widespread but now vanishing — knowledge on traditional pig grazing in forests and marshes (Sava-Bosut floodplain, Serbia)

“…European forests and wetlands have been radically transformed over the last centuries [42], traditional landuse practices have ceased [22,33,43], and multidimensionality of use has decreased [44,45]. Prohibition of some traditional uses (e.g.…”

“…Prohibition of some traditional uses (e.g. forest grazing, pig grazing) has also contributed to the rapid decline and erosion of related traditional ecological knowledge [43], with severe biodiversity effects [46]. Due to the changing environment and lifestyles, innovations and novel adaptations, based on available knowledge and existing traditions, are needed for the successful continuation of extensive land-use practices (incl.…”

“…[52][53][54]). Much less is known about extensive traditional forest and marsh grazing and the foraging behaviour of livestock in these habitats [33,43,46,55], especially about pig grazing [6,31].…”

Estimating Energy Concentrations in Wooded Pastures of NW Spain Using Empirical Models That Relate Observed Metabolizable Energy to Measured Nutritional Attributes

“…Horse grazing, for example, can decrease gorse dominance and promote heath composition in Atlantic heathlands [4][5][6], which are prized for their biodiversity, aesthetic and cultural value, and supported by the European Union (EU) within the High Nature Value farming framework. Grazing oak woodlands is included as a type of silvopasture that has been practiced throughout the ages across Europe and has gained growing recognition in the last decades [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Several studies have also pointed out the importance of livestock grazing as a management strategy that can improve rural sustainability while effectively controlling the accumulation of flammable woody vegetation derived from rural depopulation and the abandonment of management practices in the heathlands of NW Spain [5,6,13,14], thus contributing to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the risk of fire [15].…”