LANDOLT

SWITZERLAND (see also List of Individuals)

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28.10.1821 Andelfingen/CH - 18.5.1896 Zürich/CH

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Elias Landolt was a self-made man who until 1848 was a private gentleman and from 1849 was an adjunct of the Zurich Cantonal forest service. Following the foundation of the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in 1855, the young Landolt was appointed its first professor in forest economy; in parallel, he directed the forest department of Zurich Canton from 1864. He therefore contributed to both forest engineering and practical forest management in the second half of the 19th century in Switzerland.

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Landolt submitted in 1875 a note on the forests and waters of the Upper Tösstal in Zurich Canton. It included the integral protection of woods and rivers from deforestation. In parallel, Landolt also cared for the Swiss Alpine forests and drew the attention of both the authorities and the population to a reasonable and sustainable management of the forest. Wood in these times was a precious good both for heating and construction purposes; a number of valleys had been deforested resulting in a large disequilibrium between original landscape and industrial usage. Landolt proved that a much larger quantity of wood was used than planted, and the mud and rock avalanches, the variable river discharges and climatic changes were attributed to such human actions. Landolt therefore supported the mountain population in the re-erection of forests to counter these disasters. He was also an expert for the Swiss Forest Law dating from 1876. In parallel, he also was an active Member of the Swiss Forest Association and presided over it from 1881 to 1893. These activities culminated in his commemoration book on the past 50 years of the Association. He was also the editor of the Swiss Journal of Forestry of which the first issue appeared in 1850. Landolt was in 1893 elected Honorary Member of his Association, which presented him posthumously a memorial that is currently still at ETH Zurich.

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_{Anonymous (1893). Festschrift zum fünfzigjährigen Jubiläum des Schweizerischen Forstvereins. Zürich.}

_{Landolt, E. (1858). Über die Geschichte der Waldungen und des Forstwesens. Orell Füssli: Zürich.}

_{Landolt, E. (1872). Der Wald seine Verjüngung, Pflege und Benutzung. Schulthess: Zürich. Landolt, E. (1881). Der Wald und die Alpen. Schulthess: Zürich.}

_{Landolt, E. (1886). Die Bäche, Schneelawinen und Steinschläge und die Mittel zur Verminderung der Schädigungen durch dieselben. Orell Füssli: Zürich.}

_{Landolt, E. (1950). Elias Landolt Ein Bürger des Weinlandes 1821-1896. Akeret: Andelfingen. P}