New soil data processing methods to provide soil information for ecosystem service evaluation as a basis for sustainable soil management Results from two Alpine case studies in the Aosta Valley (Italy) and in East Tyrol (Austria) New soil data processing methods to provide soil information for ecosystem service management Imprint What this is about? This report provides an overview of soil data processing methods that have been developed in two case studies within the Links4Soils project. Using regionalisation as a digital soil mapping approach, point-related soil information could be transferred into continuous maps that can be used by practitioners to support a more sustainable soil management. Project and funding Links4Soils (ASP399); EU Interreg Alpine Space WP, Task and Deliverable WPT2 AT2.2 (D.T2.2.2) Lead University of Innsbruck, Institute of Geography, Innrain 52f, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria Case study contributions Aosta Valley region: Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, Assessorato Opere pubbliche, Territorio ed Edilizia residenziale pubblica, Dipartimento programmazione, risorse idriche e territorio, Via Carlo Promis, 2, 11100, Aosta Municipality of Prägraten: Department of Forest Planning, Tyrol Forest Administration, Office of the Tyrolean Government, Bürgerstraße 36, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria Authors Elisabeth Schaber1, Elena Cocuzza2, Michele D’Amico3, Emanuele Pintaldi3, Alois Simon2, Clemens Geitner1 1 University of Innsbruck, 2 Office of the Tyrolean Government, 3 Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley 1 Caring for Soils – Where Our Roots Grow How to cite Schaber, E., Cocuzza, E., D’Amico, M., Pintaldi E., Simon, A., Geitner, C. (2019). New soil data processing methods to provide soil information ecosystem service evaluation as a basis for sustainable soil management. Results from two Alpine case studies in the Aosta Valley (Italy) and in East Tyrol (Austria). Links4Soils project report. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the University of Turin (DISAFA), the Municipality of Prägraten, the GEOWEST Engineering Office for geology (Innsbruck), and the Laboratory of the Institute of Forest Ecology of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Vienna). Date March 2020 Caring for Soils – Where Our Roots Grow 2 New soil data processing methods to provide soil information for ecosystem service management Abstract This report gives an overview of new soil data processing methods that were developed and applied in two Alpine study areas within the Interreg Alpine Space project Links4Soils. It is intended to be offered to soil-experts and technicians aiming at producing similar soil information that can be used by practitioners or administration. Many soils in the Alps are the basis to produce agricultural and silvicultural goods, they are responsible for cleaning drinking water, they play an important role in preventing floods and other hazards, and they store high amounts of carbon. These are only a few of the numerous ecosystem services that are supported by soils. However, mainly as a result of morphodynamic processes characterising the Alps but also due to land-use and climate change, Alpine soils are subject to numerous threats, such as erosion or loss of organic matter. If soils are degraded, their ability to support ecosystem services is hampered as well. In order to prevent this negative development, appropriate soil management strategies need to be developed. Since soils are very diverse, decisions should be based on site-specific soil information. To increase the amount and to optimize the quality and applicability of data, improving also their availability, two case studies were carried out within the Links4Soils project: In the Aosta Valley (Italy) and in East Tyrol (Austria) new soil data were generated, processed and presented in the form of maps and GIS data sets. Thereby, the data processing (e.g. regionalization, classification) is a necessary step since raw soil data requires sound soil expertise to function as a basis for decision-making. In the Aosta valley, a soil type map was created at a regional scale (1:100.000), furthermore, some derived maps have been developed covering the topics erodibility, potential erosion, land capability and carbon stock. In Tyrol, based on this newly processed soil information guidelines for forest management were developed. They are covering the topics of biomass use and compaction. In the present report, both case studies are explained in depth enabling soil-experts to understand the soil processing methods and evaluate the possibility to apply them to other regions. The final section of the report describes the requirements for implementing the presented methods in other regions and how they could be enhanced. 3 Caring for Soils – Where Our Roots Grow Content Imprint ___________________________________________________________________ 0 Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ 3 Content ___________________________________________________________________ 4 1 Alps, Soils, Ecosystem Services and soil threats ________________________________ 5 2 State of the art __________________________________________________________ 6 2.1 Evaluation of Ecosystem Services ___________________________________________ 6 2.2 Soil threats ____________________________________________________________ 6 2.3 Digital Soil Mapping _____________________________________________________ 7 3 New soil data processing methods developed in two case studies _________________ 8 3.1 Methods and results of data processing in the Aosta Valley Region ________________ 8 3.1.1 DATA SOURCES AND METHODS FOR THE CREATION OF A SOIL TYPE MAP ____________________ 8 3.1.2 SOIL EROSION MAPS: RUSLE METHOD APPLICATION ________________________________ 12 3.2 Methods and results of data processing in the Municipality of Prägraten __________ 15 3.2.1 SOIL DATA SOURCE ______________________________________________________ 15 3.2.2 FOREST MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES AND TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM _________________________ 17 3.2.3 SOIL DATA PROCESSING METHODS FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES: BIOMASS USE ________ 17 3.2.4 SOIL DATA PROCESSING METHODS FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES: COMPACTION RISK _____ 19 4 Outlook: Further development and transferability of the data processing methods to other regions ______________________________________________________________ 21 4.1 Outlook for the Aosta Valley Region ________________________________________ 21 4.2 Outlook for the Municipality of Prägraten ___________________________________ 21 List of tables ______________________________________________________________ 24 List of figures ______________________________________________________________ 24 References _______________________________________________________________ 25 Annex ___________________________________________________________________ 29 About the Links4Soils project _________________________________________________ 32 Caring for Soils – Where Our Roots Grow 4 New soil data processing methods to provide soil information for ecosystem service management 1 Alps, Soils, Ecosystem Services and soil threats The European Alps (Alpine Space area as defined by the EU) are home to about 70 million people, who depend on Alpine environments (Price et al. 2011, Heimsath 2014). This dependence refers to so-called ecosystem services, which are direct or indirect benefits that ecosystems provide to humans (MEA 2005). Ecosystems consist of different components that fulfil functions, which contribute to the provision of ecosystem services. Depending on the service, the importance of an individual component varies. Soils are an essential part of Alpine ecosystems – as in all terrestrial ecosystems around the globe – and fulfil numerous vital soil functions, such as soil fertility for agricultural and silvicultural production, retention and purification of water, the provision of nutrients for plants, the storage of carbon and the cooling of local climate, as well as the provision of natural and cultural archives (Alpine Convention 1998). Ecosystem services that mainly depend on soil functions are also referred to as ‘soil-based ecosystem services’, ‘ecosystem services provided/supported by soils’ or simply ‘soil ecosystem services’ (Greiner et al. 2017). Alpine soils, which cover all soils in the Alps from the valley to the peaks, have very diverse properties and fulfil the abovementioned functions to very different degrees. Soil diversity is a result of different combinations of so-called soil-forming factors, i.e. lithology, climate, topography, organisms, land use and time (Baruck et al. 2016, Geitner et al. 2017). Therefore, soils are never in a steady state. However, if one or several soil-forming factors change abruptly or continuously, such as a change of land use or a morphodynamic process, soil properties and the soil’s ability to provide ecosystem services can be affected negatively. Such soil degrading processes are also known as soil threats. However, the soil’s vulnerability varies according to its properties and the respective soil threat. In order to manage soils in a way that the provision of soil-based ecosystem services can be sustained and soil threats can be kept to a minimum, spatial soil information is required. The following report, which is a result of the Interreg Alpine Space project Links4Soils, presents, through two case studies, how soil information can be processed in a way that the end product is useful for practitioners and thus contributes to a more sustainable