In addition to the tree species found in Germany there are of economic value four species of pine (Pinus austriaca, cembra, pinea, halepensis), two oaks (Quercus ilex and suber), and the chestnut (Castanea vesca). Conifer forest is prevailing in Austria (with 82%), deciduous forest in Hungary, mostly beech and oak (with 75%); 27% being oak in pure stands.
The following pages refer to Austria proper, Hungarian conditions being treated separately [further on].
The value of the total raw product exported from the Austrian forests (some 180 million cubic feet) may be estimated at over 50 million dollars annually.
1. Property Conditions.
On the whole, property conditions developed not unsimilarly to those of Germany. There were freemen and serfs to start with, developing into barons, peasants, burghers; there were ban forests, royal domain, forests of the mark, and private properties; rights of user or servitudes and all the methods and conditions that were developed in other parts of Europe are also found here, only perhaps differing in time and rate of progress in their development.
As a result of gradual changes, the present distribution of property resulted, in which the State ownership is comparatively small, namely, in Austria proper not more than 7.3% (with 2.8 million acres of which nearly one-third is unproductive land), while private ownership represents over 58.6%. Of this, 34% is in large landed estates, among which those of the princes of Liechtenstein and of Schwarzenberg with round 350,000 acres and 290,000 acres respectively are the largest; and 25 others with from 50,000 to 230,000 acres may be named. By the middle of the 19th century, at least 75% of the forest area was in large compact properties, a guarantee for the possibility of forest management; the industrial development of the last decade has, however, led to considerable exploitation. In upper and lower Austria and in the Alpine regions small private ownership prevails. The communal forest comprises 13%, entailed forest 8%, and the rest belongs to church and other institutions. These so-called Fondsforste are in part under government administration.
2. First Attempts at Forest Control.
The oldest record of attempts at an orderly management in any part of the empire seems to date back to the 12th century, when the city forest of Vienna had been placed under management. During the 16th and 17th century this property appears to have been managed upon the basis of careful surveys and estimates. We also find a definite forest organization in the forests attached to the ducal salt mines in Styria by 1524, and the dams, canals and water works for floating timber developed by 1592 through Thomas Seeauer were the wonder of the times.
In 1524 also, Archbishop Mathæus Lang of Wellenburg issued a forest ordinance which was full of wise prescriptions, probably little heeded. A forest ordinance of 1599 refers to burning of tops and care of young growth in fellings.
Generally speaking, as in Germany proper, forest ordinances were issued from time to time, by the dukes under the theory of the Forsthoheit, applying to limited territories and attempting to regulate forest use. No uniformity existed.