This work deals with the theme of forest regeneration in the royal parks and woodlands of Portugal, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The analysis considers a geography and a chronology where, up to the present, the insight over forest management considers a compulsory destruction of forests. Proposing a different approach it will be demonstrated processes of renewal and maintenance of parks and woodlands in the long run within 1706 and 1824. It will also be pointed out that practices of forest maintenance in Portugal were developed prior to eighteenth century Forestry Science had been born.

Key-words:
Forest renewal; forest maintenance; arboriculture; pruning; physiocracy