The Curonian Spit was revegetated for most of the 19th century, and decades of painstaking and hard work have shaped the landscape we enjoy today. By replanting the deforested areas, people managed to reverse the mistake and prevent the impending sand disaster from getting out of control. The windblown and drifting sand of the spit was also a cause for concern for the port of Klaipėda. The dunes narrowed and flattened the waterway so that ships could no longer enter or leave the port. Merchants were most concerned about the safety and reliability of the port, as they suffered the greatest losses due to the unpunctual arrival and departure of goods. Therefore, as early as the 18th century, attempts were made to stop the sand with the help of board barriers erected on the dune tops. However, this was only a temporary measure: the sand covered the barriers, rolled them away and the dune moved on.
The Curonian Spit was revegetated for most of the 19th century, and decades of painstaking and hard work have shaped the landscape we enjoy today. By replanting the deforested areas, people managed to reverse the mistake and prevent the impending sand disaster from getting out of control. The windblown and drifting sand of the spit was also a cause for concern for the port of Klaipėda. The dunes narrowed and flattened the waterway so that ships could no longer enter or leave the port. Merchants were most concerned about the safety and reliability of the port, as they suffered the greatest losses due to the unpunctual arrival and departure of goods. Therefore, as early as the 18th century, attempts were made to stop the sand with the help of board barriers erected on the dune tops. However, this was only a temporary measure: the sand covered the barriers, rolled them away and the dune moved on.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Professor J.D. Titijus from the University of Wittenberg proposed planting the dunes with perennial grasses and later with forest to bring the Curonian Spit back to life. The Kuverts, the administrators of the Nida post office, one of the richest families on the Spit at the time, also left their mark. Two generations of Kuverts (father and son) persistently used their resources to strengthen and plant the shifting dunes near Nida. G. D. Kuvertas landscaped the Urbos hill. He carefully tended the trees, fertilised them with horse manure and began importing various species of mountain pine from Western Europe. The planting also prevented the sand from reaching other dunes. In memory of D.G. Kuvert, the grateful people of Neringa engraved the following on his father's gravestone: "...whose son Georg David Kuvert was the first to plant forest trees in the sad solitude of Nida. There were also other places on the Spit where Kuvert had like-minded people. A high dune near Pilkope Efa is named after the man who planted it: Franz Efa.
All the fixing and planting methods involved a lot of manual labour and were quite costly. Björn's work on the planting was excellent. On the crests of the larger dunes, a clay path was laid out, consisting of shredded brushwood, and covered with lagoon marl or clay. In the 19th century, Prussia passed a very important law on the designation and management of protective forests. Wilhelm Franz Epha, popularly known as the "King of Rasite" or "Old Dune King", was the mastermind of this time.
Later, the Klaipėda harbour construction inspector was entrusted with the landscaping. More than 100 hectares were planted every year. There were also other plants such as birch, alder. At the same time, pine and other seedlings were sown in certain places on the spit itself. Once this work was completed, reeds and rushes were planted every year at the end of May to reinforce the shoreline. The dune stabilisation and planting work also contributed to solving social problems by providing work and income for the inhabitants of the Klaipėda region.
Since most of the workers were from the mainland, the people went to Klaipėda on Saturday afternoon on the steamer of the harbour construction inspection. Moorings were set up near the barracks on the beach promenade so that the steamer could pick up the workers. After departure, the workers had time to visit their hometowns, go to church and stock up on food for the week. Every Monday at 5 a.m., the workers gathered in Klaipėda and took the steamer back to their workplaces on the spit.
Prisoners of war also worked in the dunes. After the Franco-Prussian War, French prisoners of war were housed in the Love Valley to work on the fortification and planting of the dunes. These prisoners were only allowed to work on the formation of the protective ridge.
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