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The forest, along with the silver mines that brought riches to cities such as Freiburg, was the livelihood of the then sparse population. Ancient tree giants supplied the building material for many of Germany’s grand medieval churches and castles. In later centuries they were also bound for export to Holland, where they were turned into the Dutch merchant fleet.

In the days before motorised transportation, moving the massive tree trunks to bigger rivers, such as the Rhine or Neckar, was a major logistic challenge. Spin-off trades related to the timber industry began to proliferate. Rafting, charcoal making, glass manufacture and potash production all boomed – and brought the forest ecosystem to the brink of collapse. Only the absence of heavy machinery and intermittent calamities, such as outbreaks of the plague or war, periodically halted the devastation and gave the forest a chance to recover. But at the dawn of the industrial revolution, tree cover had been reduced to only 30 per cent.

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