A Human Geographical Analysis of the Dreisam River

We, two wandering Americans, have stumbled upon the wonderfully charming city of Freiburg, located in the foothills of the Schwarzwald in the South of Germany. This area is rich with wineries, mixed forests, and happy Germans. Running through the center of the StadtZentrum, or city center, is the shallow River Dreisam, running from east to northwest, which was at one time leveled and straightened to mediate urban floods. Now seen as a recreational resource in the midst of this bustling little town, the Dreisam flows openly (unpiped) beneath automobile and pedestrian bridges, and is peppered with cafes and grassy meadows. Along side it run bicycle paths that have honestly become the fastest (and coolest) way to move from east to west through the city, granting one an otherworldly, subterranean passageway to their destination. The river is also channeled into Baechle, or the very small canals that run alongside the cobbled streets of Freiburg, lending the city part of its charm. In an effort to study the aspects of a green urban space such as this, we are examining the ecological, economical, social, and political themes around the current state of this resource. We invite you to join us.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A little bit of History

So Andrew and I have finally cracked into Joerg Lange's Die Dreisam. It is every bit the treasure chest we thought, with old photos of the Alte Dreisam (Old Dreisam) before it was straightened as it wound through agriculture lands, the flood of 1896 that tore down the Schwabentorbruecke Bridge, and general riparian mayhem. Joerg has written a great history of the river up until the 1920's. Translated and shortened into a numerical timeline it goes a little something like this:

1809-1811: Partial deforestation of the Schlattwalds (Schlatt Forest)
1831-1842: Planning and Construction of Dreisam Canals (Made politically possible by the expulsion of Napoleon by the Prussians)
1820: Situation Plan drawn up by Johann Gottfried Tulla
1835-1838: Damming of the Dreisam under Tulla completed
1837-1843: Construction of Dreisam Canals at Eichstetten and Bahlingen
1845-1855: Complete clearing of Schlattwalds. The resulting agricultural and grazing land is raffled among the citizens. With the proceeds from the sale of timber, the timber is formed Checkout, a municipally owned Kreditanstalt (including Eichenstaemme 1530)
1852: Founding of Entennest-irrigation cooperative
1865: Completion of irrigation systems in Entennest and straightening of approximately 2700 m of the old Dreisam running between Bahlingen and Riegel as well as from 700 m at Eichstetten
1924/25: Regulation between the bridge over the old Dreisam and Bahlingen 1944:
1958: The last documented + caught Lachs (salmon) out of the Elz-Dreisam system
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