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Structure and Management of Beech (Fagus Sylvatica L.) Forests in Italy

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Structure and Management of Beech (Fagus Sylvatica L.) Forests in Italy Review Article - doi: 10.3832/ifor0499-002 ©iForest – Biogeosciences and Forestry Collection: COST Action E52 Meeting 2008 - Florence (Italy) over the country. Evaluation of beech genetic resources for sustainable forestry Economic and social changes in the last Guest Editors: Georg von Wühlisch, Raffaello Giannini decades have brought about changes in the forestry sector in Italy, which, in turn, have impacted forests and forest management. Structure and management of beech (Fagus Beech forests have not been immune to these changes and in some ways represent an inter- sylvatica L.) forests in Italy esting case study on the changing perspect- ives of forest management in the face of changing environmental and socio economic Nocentini S conditions. This paper analyses the relationship Beech forests characterise the landscape of many mountain areas in Italy, from between stand structure and the management the Alps to the southern regions. This paper analyses the relationship between history of beech forests in Italy. The aim is stand structure and the management history of beech in Italy. The aim is to to outline possible strategies for the sustain- outline possible strategies for the sustainable management of these forest able management of these forest formations. formations. The present structure of beech forests in Italy is the result of many interacting factors. According to the National Forest Inventory, more than half Distribution of beech forests in the total area covered by beech has a long history of coppicing. High forests Italy cover 34% of the total beech area and 13% have complex structures which Beech forests are present in all the regions have not been classified in regular types. Coppices are very widespread mainly except for Sardinia (Tab. 1). In the Alps, because of the past, but also present importance of firewood and charcoal for beech generally forms pure stands above mountain populations. A particular type of beech coppice, the selection cop- 1000 m altitude in areas with relatively low pice (or uneven aged coppice), was traditional in Tuscany and in some alpine rainfall, while it grows at around 600-700 m areas. Starting from the fifties, following the widespread use of other low cost in more humid areas. energy sources and the depopulation of mountain areas, many beech coppices On the Apennine mountains beech usually have been progressively abandoned. Forest policies have been increasingly di- grows above 900-1000 m. Beech forests are rected to favouring beech coppice conversion to high forests, which are con- more widespread on the northern slopes and sidered more productive and ecologically more functional. Beech high forests where rain and fog maintain moist air condi- have a very interesting management history which is a very good example of tions. On the sunnier and warmer southern the separation between classical forest management, i.e., forest management slopes, the lower vegetation limit for beech systems defined by “scientific forestry”, described in text books and usually tends to move higher (Hofmann 1991, Pig- prescribed in forest regulation plans, and real life forest management, i.e., natti 1998). On the northern slope of the how forests have been, and mostly still are, actually managed. The analysis of Mount Etna in Sicily beech reaches an alti- the management history of beech high forests in Italy shows that management tude of 2000 m (Hofmann 1960, Del Favero systems which favour simplified stand structure and composition according to 2008). rigid, predetermined models have been rarely applied. However, the traditio- Today, permanent pastures usually charac- nal silviculture of beech stands in Southern Italy, based on the opening of very terise the higher areas of the Apennine small gaps organized in time and space according to the different situations and to the reactions of the stand, can provide an example for a sustainable ap- proach. Keywords: Sustainable forest management, Coppice, Gaps, Traditional silvicul- ture, Continuous cover forestry Introduction terise the landscape of many mountain areas Beech forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) charac- in Italy, from the Alps down to the southern regions of Campania, Basilicata, Calabria Dept. of Forest Environmental Sciences and Sicily in the Mediterranean area (Fig. 1). and Technologies (DISTAF), University of According to the National Forest Inventory Florence, v. S. Bonaventura 13, I-50143 (INFC 2005), the total area covered by beech Florence (Italy). in Italy is 1 042 129 hectares, which corres- ponds to 9.4% of the country’s total forest @ Susanna Nocentini area. This area includes 1 035 103 ha of ([email protected]) beech forests and 7 023 ha of “other wooded Received: Feb 04, 2009 - Accepted: Apr 02, land” (according to the FRA2000 definition - 2009 Tab. 1). Over the centuries wood from beech Citation: Nocentini S, 2009. Structure and forests, mainly for firewood and charcoal as management of beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests in Italy. iForest 0: 0-0 [online 2009. well as timber for building and furniture, has Structure and management of beech (Fagus been a fundamental resource for people liv- sylvatica L.) forests in Italy. iForest 2: 105- ing in mountain areas. Thus intensive use 113 [online: 2009-06-10] URL: has significantly the modified distribution, Fig. 1 - Distribution of beech forests in Italy. http://www.sisef.it/iforest/show.php? composition and structure of beech stands all Data from CORINE Land Cover 2000 4th id=499 Level. © SISEF http://www.sisef.it/iforest/ 105 iForest (2009) 2: 105-113 Nocentini S - iForest 2: 105-113 Tab. 1 - Beech distribution in Italy. Data from INFC 2005. beech coppicing started in the Middle Ages and became very intensive during the eight- Beech forests Other wooded land eenth century, when demographic pressure increased rapidly (Crivellari 1955). During Region area SE area SE this long phase of intensive exploitation (ha) (%) (ha) (%) spruce, which was naturally present in the Piedmont 115501 5.6 404 100 area, practically disappeared because clear Valle d’Aosta 1156 57.3 0 - felling and the subsequent rapid growth of beech sprouts created unfavourable ecologic- Lombardy 65681 7.9 441 100 al conditions for the regeneration and growth Alto Adige 3781 31.4 0 - of spruce. Furthermore, spruce was re- Trentino 62247 7.1 360 100 peatedly suppressed by local populations be- Veneto 67196 7.0 374 100 cause of their greater need for firewood and Friuli V.G. 88812 5.7 1115 57.5 charcoal (Andreatta 2008). Liguria 37004 9.4 733 70.2 In the northern Apennines exploitation of Emilia Romagna 100863 5.6 368 100 beech forests became very intensive in the Tuscany 72260 6.9 361 100 second half of the eighteenth century when beech forests where extensively clear cut Umbria 15115 15.3 0 - leaving only some seed trees (generally 30 Marche 17837 14.1 0 - per hectare - Gabbrielli 1991a, Rovelli Lazio 71710 6.8 0 - 2000). Stands were thus transformed into Abruzzo 122402 4.8 1731 44.4 coppices, which were repeatedly utilized un- Molise 14836 15.5 390 99.8 til the second half of the twentieth century. Campania 55197 7.8 0 - This intensive exploitation caused the disap- Apulia 4661 28.6 0 - pearance of silver fir from vast areas in the Basilicata 26448 11.5 373 99.9 northern and central Apennines (Senni 1955, Calabria 77237 6.6 373 99.9 Gori Montanelli 1939, Marchesoni 1959). In many areas of southern Italy extensive Sicily 15162 15.6 0 - felling in beech forests started in 1826, when Sardinia 0 - 0 - the Kingdom of Two Sicilies passed the so- Italy 1035103 1.8 7023 22.9 called Bourbon Law, which dictated that all public owned forests be managed according mountain range, which were once covered itats Directive (92/43/EEC) have been identi- to “regular felling”, i.e. clear cut leaving 58 by beech forests (Carpaneto et al. 2006). fied in Natura 2000 sites in Italy (Tab. 2). seed trees per hectare (Hofmann 1956, Bia- Big, isolated beech trees once used for shad- nucci 1982). The law decreed that the forest ing livestock, can still be seen in these pas- Composition and structure of should be divided into a number of sections tures, and in some cases beech stands grow beech forests in Italy equal to the rotation length for the main spe- up to the mountain ridge, usually along val- The composition and structure of beech cies (this law also applied to oak forests) and leys and over saddles (Fig. 2). forests in Italy are the result of many inter- a section could be cut each year; in the cut In the central Apennines sporadic beech or acting factors. One of the most significant section grazing was absolutely prohibited beech stands can also be found at lower alti- has surely been the type of cultivation and (difesa - Gabbrielli 2004). This type of treat- tudes (< 700-800 m) in chestnut or mesophil- management which has characterised the his- ment caused the degradation of many beech ous mixed oak forests; these are considered tory of each stand. According to the National forests on the warmer, southern slopes and relict sites and proof of a much wider diffu- Forest Inventory (INFC 2005), more than where soil conditions where more difficult; sion of beech in the area (Montelucci 1956, 53% of beech stands have a long history of in addition, notwithstanding the law, re- Anzalone 1961, Anzalone 1980, Scoppola & coppicing. High forests cover 34% of the peated grazing and fire contributed to the Caporali 1997, Scoppola 1999). total beech area and 13% have complex In the southern regions, in areas with high structures which have not been classified in Tab. 2 - Natura 2000 habitat types with air moisture conditions, beech can descend regular types. Property ownership has Fagus sylvatica L.
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