Carl Reuss

This article deals with the forester Carl Reuss. For other people see Karl Reuss .

Carl Reuss , also Karl Reuss or Carl Reuss (* 1844 in Harzgerode , Anhalt , † April 22, 1918 in Dessau ) was a German forester . Its importance lies primarily in its work for the Harz region . The long-standing city forester of Goslar and later head of the Anhalt Forest Administration not only had its northern edge reforested on a large scale, but also recognized the tourist potential of the low mountain range. He arranged for the forest areas there to be opened up by an extensive network of trails and was the creator of the first hiking trails in the Harz Mountains.

Live and act

Carl Reuß, born in Harzgerode in 1844, came from an old family of forest officials in Anhalt. He continued the family tradition and studied forestry at the Tharandt Forest Academy from 1866 to 1867 . He then worked as an assistant forestry in Lautenthal hired and until 1869 with forest management work entrusted. In 1870 he was appointed city forester of Osterode am Harz and three years later he was appointed city chief forester in Goslar . In this function, Reuss set about completely bald northern outskirts of the resin to the outskirts of Goslar reforest . He was also particularly interested in expanding the network of paths around Goslar - 108 kilometers of new paths were created within a short period of time. During this time he was a co-founder of the Harz Club , initially holding the position of deputy chairman and from 1900 to 1918 also that of chairman. When the Goslar branch was founded on March 18, 1887, the members elected Reuss as chairman, who he remained until 1893. According to him, it should become a tradition that - with the exception of the time of the " Third Reich " - the respective head of the Goslar City Forestry Office holds this office.

Carl Reuss was also one of the first to deal intensively with the problem of smelter damage . Together with Julius von Schroeder, he researched and mapped the extent of this forest damage . They summarized their results in the publication The Damage to Vegetation by Smoke and the Upper Harz Smoke Damage (Berlin 1883). According to this, the forest damage, the cause of which they identified as “sulphurous-acidic vapors” from the three huts Clausthal , Lautenthal and Altenau , affected around 4500 hectares in 1881 and the trend is increasing. The fundamental study became up-to-date again a hundred years later and was reprinted several times in the course of the debate about forest dieback in 1986/87 ( ISBN 3-7463-0037-1 and ISBN 3-487-08279-9 ).

1893 Reuss was appointed the rank of Senior Forest Council at the head of the Anhalt Forest Service, 1917 Country forester appointed. Reuss, who had recognized the tourist potential of the Harz region, caused the first hiking trails to be laid out there. He also campaigned for better transport links to the Harz locations, which led to the expansion of connecting roads. The Harz districts also received an extensive and generous network of paths as a result. Reuss was thus one of the driving forces behind the tourism and forestry development of the region.

In addition, Reuss was also chairman of the Harz-Solling Association and a member of the German Forestry Council .

Carl Reuss received a number of awards for his work. The city of Goslar granted him honorary citizenship and later named Reussstrasse after him.

Forester Carl Reuss died on April 22nd, 1918 in Dessau.

literature

• Zoltán Rozsnyay, Frank Kropp: Carl Reuss , in this .: Lower Saxony Forest Biography. A source volume. From the forest (1998): Messages from the Lower Saxony State Forest Administration (Issue 51). Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forests (MELF), Wolfenbüttel 1998. pp. 368–369
• Alexander Grundner-Culemann : Carl Reuss - From the chronicle of a Harz forest family , in: Unser Harz , issue 2/1961, p. 4–6, and issue 3/1961, p. 8–10

Web links

• "Comprehensive insight into the life and work of Carl Reuss", report in the "Goslarschen Zeitung" from November 4, 1998 about an exhibition on Carl Reuss in the city archive