Changes of the rural landscape in the Sudetes mountains in the post-war period

W okresie powojennym na obszarze Sudetów można wyróżnić dwa główne trendy przemian krajobrazu terenów wiejskich. W pierwszej fazie, nasilonej przede wszystkim w latach 50-70. XX w., obserwować można było gwałtowny proces depopulacji obszaru, zwłaszcza terenów wyżej położonych. W efekcie nastąpił zanik licznych wsi. Na opuszczonych gruntach porolnych zaczęła rozwijać się wtórna sukcesja roślinna. Od końca lat 90. XX w. Wyraźnie zaczęła się rozwijać nowa tendencja w zagospodarowaniu obszarów wiejskich w Sudetach. Dotyczy ona intensywnego rozwoju chaotycznej zabudowy jednorodzinnej, w tym letniskowej. Jednocześnie nie następuje powrót do dawnej funkcji wsi i nie obserwuje się wzrostu ilości terenów rolniczych, choć z drugiej strony wiele z wcześniejszych nieużytków poddanych wtórnej sukcesji jest aktualnie zagospodarowywanych. Obecnie podejmowane są także różnorodne działania z zakresu odtworzenia i ochrony krajobrazu kulturowego Sudetów (m.in. w Kotlinie Jeleniogórskiej) oraz promocji wiejskiego krajobrazu górskiego jako atrybutu rozwoju regionalnego (m.in. na Ziemi Kłodzkiej).In the Sudetes Mountains, several trends of rural landscape transformations have been observed in the post-war period. They reflected changes of the socio-economical situation in Poland. The main change of the rural landscape in the Sudetes in the last decades is connected with changes of land use. The trend of depopulation of mountain areas, which started already in the end of the 19th century and intensified in the 1950-1970's led to abandonment of arable grounds. The secondary vegetation succession resulted in the substantial increase of forest stands and lowering of forest-arable land boundery. A new trend of change of land use can be observed in the Sudetes for few years. Some areas of abandoned fields are turn into use again (mainly as hay meadows or pastures) due to EU agri-environmental schemes and financial supports for maintenance of biodiversity. The depopulation led to disappearance of many former villages or to loosenig of density of the original structure of villages. However, from the end of the 1990's a new trend intensified substantially - there is a high increase of number of new singlefamily housing. In many places their localization is very chaotic and do not reflect the original structure of former settlements. In addition, most of the new houses are not connected with any traditional regional architecture. Other typical features of the Sudetic rural landscape are remains of many palaces, manors and residential-landscape compositions. Many of these features have been neglected and destroyed in the post-war period. However, in recent years there is a revival in interest to restitute and maintain the cultural landscape and heritage. One of the best examples of the renewal of historical buildings and landscapes is Jelenia Gora Basin, where former palaces and manors have been renovated and obtained new functions, serving as hotel, spas or conference centres. In the Sudetes there are also other examples of projects, which aim at restitution and protection of traditional rural landscapes, which are based on the idea of sustainable development. They include, among other, FAO project 'Sustainable Mountain Development' and 'Landscape as tourist value in the Klodzko region'. These projects may diminish the risk of inappropriate further spatial management of the rural areas in the mountains, especially stop the uncontrolled development of housing