I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!»
22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
An overview on Italian Protection Forests Italian Alps and Piedmont
Emanuele Sibona (DISAFA-UniTO, Turin) I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Wh e r e are we?
ALPINE SPACE (Alpine Convention 2018)
ITALIAN REGIONS PIEDMONT I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Wh e r e are we?
PIEDMONT
Upper Susa Valley
TURIN I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Italy & ItalianAl ps forests
ITALY: 39% forest index ~ 12.000.000 ha x3 in the last 60 years! ITALIAN ALPS: 54% forest index ~ 3.000.000 ha ¼ of national forests I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
ItalianAl ps Forests HUGE FOREST COVER INCREASE (especially in mountain regions) Socio-Economic processes Climatic processes Industrial revolution (1870) Climate change post World Wars (1950) Global warming
Abandonment Temperature rise of rural lands & forest encroachment Tree upper limit raise in altitude I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
ItalianAl ps Forests climate Primary Succession (previously bare areas) treelines
society Secondary Succession (previously forested areas) treelines, crops & pastures I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
ItalianAl ps Forests
- 4 main forest categories exceed 10% (spruce, larch, beech, chestnut) - 3 others are relevant and exceed 5% (pines, oaks, manna ash & hophornbeam) - Conipher 44% vs Broadleaves 34% - Thickets & Shrubs (mixed category of coniphers & broadleaves) 12% I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
ItalianAl ps Forests
- At lower altitude prevail Broadleaves in green), at higher altitude Coniphers (in purple) - From west to east (broadleaves level): Beech everywhere, Chestnut only in the west - From west to east (conipher level): Larch main conipher in the west, Spruce in the dominant in the east I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Italian legal f rame
Legislative Decree 34/2018 «Consolidated law on forests and forestry chains» (the previous forest law was a Royal Decree of 1923!)
- For the first time explicitly address and defines direct protection forests - It finally shows the increasing interest in Italy for this topic (in other countries the topic is already much more developed and regulated!)
ART.3 ROLE OF THE FOREST Definition of direct protection forest: wooded area that, thanks its special location, plays a role of direct protection of people, propert and infrastructure from natural hazards such as avalanches, rockfalls, surface slips, debris flows and others, preventing the event or mitigating the effect (…).
ART.8 PRESERVATION OF THE FOREST Forests having the function of direct protection of inhabitants, strategic assets and infrastructures, identified and recognized by Regions and Autonomous Provinces, cannot be transformed and the land use cannot be changed (...).
The new framework law, as in the past, delegates to Regions the detailed regulation on forestry issues. I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Alps legal f rame AP BOLZANO (PAB) Provincial law 21/1996 «Forest legal frame»
TRENTINO P.L. 28/1981, P.L. 29/2000, P.C.P.D. 56/2007, Provincial ALTO ADIGE Forest Plan (Autonomous AP TRENTO (PAT) Ministerial Decree 28 aprile 1930 «General Provinces of AOSTA VALLEY Provincial law 11/2007 «Government of forest and requirements and forestry police» Tento & (Special Statute Bolzano) mountain territory, watercourses and protected areas» Region) R.L. 11/1998, General Forestry Plan 1987 P.P.D. 8/2011, P.L. 5/2008, P.L. 9/2011, Forest and Mountain Plan Regional law 4/2009 «Management and economic promotion of forests» PIEDMONT R.C.P.D. 8R/2011, R.C.P.D. 2R/2017, R.L. n.45/1989, Forest plans
FRIULI VENEZIA Regional law 9/2007 «Rules on forest GIULIA resources»
(Special Statute R.L. 10/2010, R.C.P.D. 274/2012, R.C.P.D. Region) 73/2016
Regional Council Provision 1066/1980 and Regional Council Deliberation 51/2003 «General requirements and forestry VENETO police» R.L. 52/1978, R.L. 8/1985, Forest plans
Regional law 31/2008 «Consolidated text of regional laws about Regional law 4/1999 «Rules concerning agriculture, forests, fisheries and rural development» forests and hydrogeological structure» LOMBARDY LIGURIA R.R. 5/2007, R.C.D. 53262/1990, R.C.D. X/901/2013, R.C.D. 7728/2008 e Forest plans R.C.D. 6089/2016, Forest plans I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Alps legal f rame AP BOLZANO (PAB) Provincial law 21/1996 «Forest legal frame»
TRENTINO P.L. 28/1981, P.L. 29/2000, P.C.P.D. 56/2007, Provincial ALTO ADIGE Forest Plan (Autonomous AP TRENTO (PAT) Ministerial Decree 28 aprile 1930 «General Provinces of AOSTA VALLEY Provincial law 11/2007 «Government of forest and requirements and forestry police» Tento & (Special Statute Bolzano) mountain territory, watercourses and protected areas» Region) R.L. 11/1998, General Forestry Plan 1987 P.P.D. 8/2011, P.L. 5/2008, P.L. 9/2011, Forest and Mountain Plan Regional law 4/2009 «Management and economic promotion of forests» PIEDMONT R.C.P.D. 8R/2011, R.C.P.D. 2R/2017, R.L. n.45/1989, Forest plans
FRIULI VENEZIA Regional law 9/2007 «Rules on forest GIULIA resources»
(Special Statute R.L. 10/2010, R.C.P.D. 274/2012, R.C.P.D. Region) 73/2016
Regional Council Provision 1066/1980 and Regional Council Deliberation 51/2003 «General requirements and forestry VENETO police» R.L. 52/1978, R.L. 8/1985, Forest plans
Regional law 31/2008 «Consolidated text of regional laws about Regional law 4/1999 «Rules concerning agriculture, forests, fisheries and rural development» forests and hydrogeological structure» LOMBARDY LIGURIA R.R. 5/2007, R.C.D. 53262/1990, R.C.D. X/901/2013, R.C.D. 7728/2008 e Forest plans R.C.D. 6089/2016, Forest plans I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Alps legal f rame National types of protection forests
No defined or common classification in Italy (every Region has one or more!)
...3 recurrent types • Generic protection forests: protecting soil by erosion from weathering • Indirect protection forests: prevent or mitigate natural disturbances • Direct protection forests: protecting human infrastructures from natural disturbances I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Alps legal f rame Management methods & practices
“Mountain forests can provide a sufficient level of continuous protection only if they are correctly and actively managed” (Dorren, 2008)
No defined methods or practices in Italy some shared main concepts…
• every silvicultural activity must be aimed at improving or maintaining the stability of the population (Resistance and Resilience) • in most cases located in high slope and low fertility, so minimization of intervention costs trying to reach the minimum level of protection required • In broadleaves forest is better to prefer high forest to coppice for their stability and larger diameters, even though in particular situations it would be good to have agamic regeneration and the “cage effect”. • Coniferous forests are generally at higher altitudes where the site conditions become preponderant and must be taken into account. I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Alps legal f rame Management methods & practices
more operative shared concepts…
• promote natural regeneration allowing light to reach the ground to help the seedlings and little plants to develop • felled trees left in place: tall cut stumps, oblique logs and brushwood on the ground to increase the roughness • natural dead wood: good for roughness and regeneration (germination and protection) I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Pi edmont forests
- about 1 billion trees live in piedmont today (52 tree species & 40 shrub species) - ~37% forest index (~940000 ha) +80% (almost doubled) in the last 60 years! - forest index recalculated by plain (10%), hill (41%), mountain (57%) areas - 2 trends: secondary forests in the clearings and Larch woods rise at the treelines I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Pi edmont Al pi ne Forests
- almost half (47%) consist exclusively of Beech and Chestnut woods (TOT Broadleaves 62%) - total Coniphers only the 20%, neat dominance of Larch woods (14%) (Spruce, Silver fir and Swiss pine lack for anthropic causes) - the remaining 15% of various thickets & shrubs (both coniphers and broadleaves) and a 4% of anthropogenic vegetation (reforestation of coniphers) I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Pi edmont legal f rame Regional Piedmont Forest Law (l.r. 4/2009) “Forest economic management and promotion” It reorganizes the forest matter as a whole and pursues the forest economic management and promotion, recognizing its essential value and emphasizing its multi- functionality (productive, protective, recreational and environmental)
ART. 1 (principles) “Forests are recognized as a resource for the ART. 2 (purposes) protection of the territory, human life and human ”Region proposes to: works from natural disasters“ promote sustainable forest management and the “Forest planning of the interventions, based on an in- multi-functionality of forests depth knowledge of the territory, is essential” improve the socio-economic conditions of rural areas ART. 13 (forest regulation) increase scientific and technical knowledge in forestry field, promoting research and innovation” The forest regulation establishes the methods for managing forests in special situations, including protective forests” I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!» 22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
Protection Forests: Piedmont
15% of the total mountain forest cover (~95500 ha)
MAIN FOREST CATEGORIES (reflect Piedmont forest categories abundance)
- Larch & Swiss pine woods 19% - Beech woods 14% - Chestnut woods 13% - Pioneer&invasion thickets 10% - Hardwood mixed forests 9%
PROPERTY DISTRIBUTION (difficult to harmonize forest management) PUBLIC 40% - 40% Public ownership 60% - 60% Private ownership PRIVATE
…in Upper Susa Valley wide extension of protection forests! I NTERNATI ONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on protection forests « Al pi ne forests are Rock Stars!»
22-27th July 2019 - Cesana Torinese (IT)
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