Forests have been grazed for millennia. Around the world, forest grazing by livestock became a controversial management practice, gradually restricted in many countries over the past 250 years. This was also the case in most Central and Eastern European countries, including Hungary, where forest grazing was a legally prohibited activity between 1961 and 2017. Until the 2010s, ecologists and nature conservationists considered it merely as a historical form of forest use. As a result, there is little contemporary scientific information available about the impact of forest grazing on vegetation and the traditional ecological knowledge associated with it. Our aim was to explore and summarize this type of knowledge held by herders in Hungary. We interviewed 58 knowledgeable herders and participated in forest grazing activities in 43 study locations across the country. The results were analysed qualitatively. We revealed a living ecological knowledge tradition and practice of forest grazing in native and non-native forest stands. The impact of livestock grazing on native and non-native forests is not considerably different, in the view of the herders. For both forest types, the greatest impact of grazing was the suppression of the shrub layer, while grazing also increased the dominance and palatability (“tameness”) of the grasses. Livestock could cause significant damage to seedlings during forest grazing, but if done with care, grazing could also be an integral part of forestry management. Sustainability of current forest grazing practices depends on the depth of local and traditional knowledge applied and herders’ stewardship. We stress the importance of collaborating with holders of local and traditional knowledge in order to gain a better understanding of the effects of livestock grazing on vegetation in temperate forests.

中文翻译：

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禁止但仍然存在：关于匈牙利家畜放牧森林的做法和影响的当地和传统知识。

森林已经放牧了数千年。在全球范围内，以牲畜为食的森林成为一种有争议的管理做法，在过去的250年中，许多国家逐渐限制了这种做法。在包括匈牙利在内的大多数中欧和东欧国家也是如此，在1961年至2017年之间，放牧是一项法律上禁止的活动。直到2010年代，生态学家和自然保护主义者一直认为这仅是森林使用的一种历史形式。结果，关于森林放牧对植被的影响以及与之相关的传统生态知识的当代科学信息很少。我们的目的是探索和总结匈牙利牧民所拥有的这种知识。我们采访了58位知识渊博的牧民，并在全国43个研究地点参加了森林放牧活动。对结果进行定性分析。我们揭示了一种活生生的生态知识传统，以及在原生林和非原生林中放牧森林的实践。牧民们认为，放牧对本地和非本地森林的影响没有太大不同。对于这两种森林类型，放牧的最大影响是抑制灌木层，而放牧也增加了草的优势和适口性（“淡淡度”）。放牧期间，牲畜可能会对幼苗造成严重损害，但是如果谨慎行事，放牧也可能是林业管理的一个组成部分。当前森林放牧做法的可持续性取决于所应用的本地和传统知识的深度以及牧民的管理。我们强调与当地和传统知识拥有者合作的重要性，以便更好地了解放牧对温带森林植被的影响。