In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, forest use and management changed in response to changing demands put on the forests, and altered the character of forest habitats. This development is reconstructed and analysed as a regional case study for the Swiss lowlands. About 590 forest management plans from 46 communities of the Unter- and Weinland (canton of Zurich, Swiss central plateau) were evaluated, taking account of reasons why the plans had been prepared. The plans span the period from 1820 to the present.
In 1820 more than two-thirds of the forest area was taken up by stands of simple coppice and coppice-with-standards. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the so-called minor forest uses as wood-pasture, litter-collecting, agricultural use and use of oak bark were given up. In the first half of the twentieth century, a trend to higher stand density and larger growing stock, per area occurred. Overall, forests became more closed and darker because of the shift to high forest, larger growing stock and a move from pine to beech. Moreover, the decline of the minor forest uses brought a decline in related habitats. Some of these habitats, for example poor soils, are nowadays of prime interest for nature conservation. Today the amount of fallen, dead wood is very likely to be higher than ever in the period under study.