Dějiny lesa a lesnictví - variabilita přístupů a současné hlavní badatelské směry

Historical study of nature, environment and relationship between man and forested environment, both on the level of the variety of practical experiences, economic, social and cultural uses and values of the natural world; and on the level of the strong symbolic, linguistic and metaphoric bond between man and nature has a long tradition and moreover has become one of the most influential historical discipline during last decades. However, in the Czech Republic forest history (despite its fruitful older legacy) is totally undeveloped and since 1960’s almost no important work has been written. Because of extreme complexity of environment-oriented historical approaches only one of them – forest history is described and analysed in the article including its methods and theories. The still increasing number of scholars and disciplines involved worldwide in forest history represents variety of methodological approaches and produces many of remarkable works. It is possible to recognize five mainstream orientations among them, which are depicted in the study. These are: (1) Traditionally oriented forest and forestry history focused on forest management, study of legal systems tied to forests and history of hunting. (2) Research on economic and social history of forests and woodlands and study of subsistence activities and industrial branches (e.g. glass-making and metallurgy) connected with forests. (3) Historical-anthropological research on forests and trees in the human mentalities and connected research of so-called cultural values of forest ecosystems. (4) Complex archaeological and ethnological research of material culture connected with forests and its inhabitants. (5) Study of ecological and environmental aspects of relationship between humans and forests.