Important unchanged forest surfaces are located in the northwestern
portion of the study area, on the eastern side of the Piatra
Craiului National Park (Fig. 2d). Important surfaces of persistent
pastures are located in the centre of the study site, in the division of
the Bran-Rucar Passageway which has a cultural landscape typology
that is specific to isolated small villages (Fig. 3d). Furthermore,
field observation in the study site showed that persistent pastures
are managed in the same way as they were in the past. Specifically,
grass mowing is achieved through traditional scything and haystacks
remain for months in the middle of the pasture, as in decades
past. The persistence of traditional pasture use was confirmed in
discussions with local residents, and with elderly people in
particular, who claimed that the same practices have indeed been
used by successive generations. Furthermore, several hot spots of
historical persistence derived from the maps were localised in the
field, with local residents again confirming the persistence of land
use (Stoicescu et al., 2014).