Philipp Christian Friedrich Bodecker

Philipp Christian Friedrich Bodecker with the facsimile of his signature

Philipp Christian Friedrich Bodecker (born September 11, 1756 in Westerhof , Electorate Braunschweig-Lüneburg , † April 1, 1845 in Oldenburg , Grand Duchy of Oldenburg ) was a German forester . As head of the Oldenburg forest administration from 1794 to 1841, he made great contributions to the afforestation of wasteland and heather areas .

Life

Philipp Christian Friedrich Bodecker came from an old Hanoverian forest family. His great-grandfather Joachim Friedrich Bodecker (1656–1735) was head forester in Lauenstein and in the office of Springe , as was his grandfather Johann Georg Bodecker (1686–1753) also in Lauenstein. His father Friedrich Jonas Bodecker (1708–1759) worked as a forester in Westerhof am Harz, where Philipp Christian Friedrich Bodecker was born on September 11, 1756. He hardly got to know his father, however, as he died three years later.

Bodecker also embarked on a forestry career and from 1780 was initially a Hanoverian riding forester in Escherode . When Adolf Christian Georg von Stralenheim (1745–1796), head of the Ducal Oldenburg Forest Administration, was looking for a successor, he found him in Bodecker. In 1794 he became chief forester at the Oldenburg Chamber of Commerce and from then until 1798 he was the sole head of the Oldenburg Forest Administration. However, since it was customary for this to be led by two senior officials, Major Heino Ernst von Heimburg (1766–1839), appointed forester, was added in 1799. Since both had the same goals, the collaboration worked smoothly.

With the beginning of the so-called French period, however, both left office in 1810. Bodecker spent the following years at Gut Mansholt, but returned to his old position in 1814. In 1829 he was appointed forester and in 1839 as "real" forester . Bodecker remained active well into old age: It was not until 1841, at the age of 84, that he retired at his own request. Philipp Christian Friedrich Bodecker died on April 1, 1845 in Oldenburg.

Services

The name Bodeckers is closely connected with the laborious reforestation of large heather and bare areas as well as the areas that have become part of the land from the division of the brand . The forest pine , which still characterizes the image of the forest there today , was mainly used in these efforts .

As a result of continued unregulated plenter blows , many of the hardwood stocks had become light and showed exposed areas that threatened to silt up. In order to secure these hardwood areas from the ever-increasing heather, they were often girded with pine trees, which contributed to the protection of the soil and its improvement. In addition, Bodecker created completely new forests, in addition to Wildeshausen mainly in the offices of Vechta and Cloppenburg , which in 1803 were also under Bodecker's and Heimburg's supervision as access to the Oldenburg administration.

The drifting sand areas , where previous attempts at reforestation had all failed, posed a particular challenge . The most important of these problem areas were the Dwergter Sand , the Littler, Spaischen and Oldenburger Sande. In order to be able to do anything at all on these areas, they were first closed to the cattle, especially the flocks of sheep , then the dunes were flattened and covered with moor plagues . For this purpose, young pines from first afforestation were sometimes used, which were placed very close and fastened with poles and rakes. It was only in more protected locations that the cover did not have to be so tight, where mowed long heath with sand cover was also used to hold the ground in place. The forest cultures were then established with one to six year old pine ball plants in a one meter square bond . These ball plants were grown in their own combs . Pine tree planting finally became common practice in Oldenburg around 1820, because there were only a few stocks of seed-bearing age in the country and seeds had to be imported at great expense . Only in the dwergter sand was pine sown on the covering moor plagues.

All in all, this reforestation technique is a classic example of why, in the course of the large-scale reforestation from around 1800, there was an increased cultivation of coniferous wood in many areas of Germany: simply no other tree species than the undemanding pine could thrive on the sandy and impoverished soils. Only with a certain recovery of these areas, which have been plundered over centuries through improper management, is it possible to bring in hardwood there again.

Against this background, the achievements in the Oldenburg area must also be rated as a first-rate cultural act, which prevented desertification or even desertification from occurring there in the end . Due to the tireless reforestation activity during Bodecker's and Heimburg's tenure, the forest area increased from 4500 to 8000 hectares within half a century from 1790 to 1840 - including around 2000 hectares of reforested wasteland - which represented a huge reforestation work for the small state of Oldenburg. When converted, this means that in addition to the ongoing cultural projects of an average of 60 to 100 hectares per year, a good 40 hectares of wasteland afforestation were added. This enormous development was also legally secured by the Oldenburg Forestry Regulations of 1840. By 1860, the area of ​​the Oldenburg state forests had grown to a good 9,000 hectares, which was more than doubling compared to 1780 when it was around 4,400 hectares. However, in 1860 the pine took up a good 5000 hectares, which is why the duke ordered that coniferous wood should only be grown in locations that were out of the question for hardwood.

literature

• Zoltán Rozsnyay, Frank Kropp: Philipp Christian Friedrich Bodecker , 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. S. 76/77
• Eilert Tantzen : Life pictures of the senior forest officials in Oldenburg and an outline of the development of the Oldenburg forestry from 1600-1960 . From the forest (1962): messages from the Lower Saxony state forest administration (issue 6). Schaper, Hanover 1962
• Kurt Schmitt: Foresters in Lower Saxony . Aus dem Walde (1966): Messages from the Lower Saxony State Forest Administration (Issue 10). Schaper, Hannover 1966, pp. 177-192
• Walter Kremser : Lower Saxony forest history. An integrated cultural history of north-west German forestry . Rotenburger Schriften, special volume 32. Heimatbund Rotenburg / Wümme, Rotenburg (Wümme) 1990, p. 505ff