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Human dimensions of natural disturbances in forest eco-systems: The social impact of bark beetle infestations in Bavarian Forest National Park
Type
applied research project
Start Date
01 January 2007
End Date
31 May 2008
Status
completed
Keywords
bark beetle
natural disturbance
protected areas
Description
Over the past 20 years Bavarian Forest National Park has witnessed sustained spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus and Pityogenes chalcographus) activity due to beetle management restrictions on the park's territory. By 2006 the area of beetle-kill stands amounted to more than 4,500 hectares (ha) or one-sixth of the park's total area. Both different ecological conditions and the park's zoning policy have resulted in major regional imbalances of forest damage. The mountain vegetation zone above 1,100 m in the southern part of the park is most severely affected with a tree mortality of over 90%, whereas the northern part, which was added in a recent enlargement of the park, and stands at lower altitudes have suffered considerably less.
Adamant local resistance in response to the national park's management policy sparked the formation of political advocacy groups which have been successful in keeping the beetle issue high on the local and regional agenda. When the territory of the national park was expanded northward at the height of a beetle outbreak in 1997, plans to extend the core, i.e. no-beetle-management, zone were met with such fierce public resistance that they ground to an indefinite halt. The effects of beetle activity have thus prompted significant local opposition not only to the park's nature conservation strategies but also to the existence of the park in general.
The perceived major impacts of the bark beetle outbreak on communities neighbouring the national park are threefold: First, beetles are said to have spread from the national park forests to privately-owned land, causing economic loss through beetle-kill timber. Second, beetle activity is perceived to have led to a significant loss of aesthetic appeal in a landscape which was originally completely covered by spruce forests. Third, as a consequence of the loss of aesthetic appeal tourist numbers are expected to decline as tourists are put off by the barren landscape.
Our project takes issue with the last two propositions: first, it examines the interrelationship between the effects of spruce bark beetle activity and tourism in Bavarian Forest National Park. Since the purported negative effects of large-scale beetle-kill stands on tourism are one of the major factors in resistance to the national park, understanding tourists' attitudes can help to build up local acceptance either by invalidating such claims or by providing clues for future beetle management strategies which take into account the tourist perspective. Second, it discusses the visuality of the bark beetle phenomenon and how radical visual changes in the landscape are linked to local identity and mobilized in the political struggle over the existence of the national park and its zoning and management policies.
Adamant local resistance in response to the national park's management policy sparked the formation of political advocacy groups which have been successful in keeping the beetle issue high on the local and regional agenda. When the territory of the national park was expanded northward at the height of a beetle outbreak in 1997, plans to extend the core, i.e. no-beetle-management, zone were met with such fierce public resistance that they ground to an indefinite halt. The effects of beetle activity have thus prompted significant local opposition not only to the park's nature conservation strategies but also to the existence of the park in general.
The perceived major impacts of the bark beetle outbreak on communities neighbouring the national park are threefold: First, beetles are said to have spread from the national park forests to privately-owned land, causing economic loss through beetle-kill timber. Second, beetle activity is perceived to have led to a significant loss of aesthetic appeal in a landscape which was originally completely covered by spruce forests. Third, as a consequence of the loss of aesthetic appeal tourist numbers are expected to decline as tourists are put off by the barren landscape.
Our project takes issue with the last two propositions: first, it examines the interrelationship between the effects of spruce bark beetle activity and tourism in Bavarian Forest National Park. Since the purported negative effects of large-scale beetle-kill stands on tourism are one of the major factors in resistance to the national park, understanding tourists' attitudes can help to build up local acceptance either by invalidating such claims or by providing clues for future beetle management strategies which take into account the tourist perspective. Second, it discusses the visuality of the bark beetle phenomenon and how radical visual changes in the landscape are linked to local identity and mobilized in the political struggle over the existence of the national park and its zoning and management policies.
Leader contributor(s)
Mueller, Martin
Funder(s)
Topic(s)
bark beetle
natural disturbance
protected areas
Method(s)
survey
media analysis
Range
HSG Internal
Range (De)
HSG Intern
Division(s)
Eprints ID
55834
2 results
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1 - 2 of 2
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PublicationTotholz und Borkenkäfer im Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald aus touristischer Perspektive(Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald, 2008)
;Mueller, Martin ;Mayer, Marius ;Job, HubertJob, HubertType: book section -
PublicationVisitor attitudes towards natural disturbance: the case of the bark beetle in Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany(Regione Toscana, 2008)
;Mueller, Martin ;Job, Hubert ;Mayer, Marius ;Woltering, ManuelRaschi, AntonioManagement authorities of protected areas have recently been faced with a considerable rise of natural disturbance such as fire or insect pests in ecosystems. Incorporating visitor experience of natural disturbance into management strategies is a crucial task. The present study uses multivariate statistical analysis to examine visitors' attitudes towards large-scale bark beetle infestation in the case of Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany. Findings indicate that visitors have a neutral attitude towards the bark beetle and slightly reject controlling the bark beetle in the national park. Expectations of a successful recovery of the affected areas (green-up) and low personal issue salience are the two strongest predictors for support of not controlling the bark beetle. Our findings suggest that it is well possible to position protected areas as refuges where nature is supposed to follow its course without intervention rather than as landscaped representations of cultural ideal types. In order to communicate this idea of wilderness to visitors, park management authorities should design educational measures toType: book section