Application of silvicultural and accessories systems on water and soil for 91E0 *habitat improvement

LIFE07 NAT/IT/000498

Silvicultural interventions for habitat 91E0* improvement

PROJECT REFERENT
Tion Paolo

WEBSITE

Improvement of the conservation conditions of habitat 91E0* through silvicultural interventions in existing woodlands, including selective thinning and sub-plantations.

The recovery and improvement of habitat 91E0* includes silvicultural interventions aimed at conserving the biodiversity of forest stands in wet soils, including:

• coppices leaving groups of standard trees;

• simple coppices with open patches;

• high forest growing.

The goal is to provide the stands with an adequate number of plants typical of the target habitat, to ensure good dissemination (mother plants/standard trees) and ensure their adequate environmental conditions for the development of large canopies and abundant fruits. Another action is to favour the formation of edaphic and lighting suitable conditions for the germination of the seed and the survival of the seedlings.

The recovery and improvement of habitat 91E0* is also carried out through the implementation of additional interventions on land and water, where necessary, such as: reduction of the drainage action of drainage ditches, protection of stretches of floodplain from destructive floods through the insertion of reinforcement poles.

The area falls within the Municipality of Rivignano (UD) and specifically in the Risorgive dello Stella SCI, it is characterised by flat land which tends to be fine-grained and periodically flooded by groundwater resurgence phenomena. Natural or semi-natural vegetation is concentrated along an articulated network of waterways that originate from an area located a few kilometers upstream, called the resurgence line.

This good practice can be replicated wherever you want to improve the conditions for habitat 91E0* (Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior) or similar, or where humid environments need to be recreated by intervening in the already existing woodlands to favour the target species.

From the LIFE GoProFor database, in the final part of the sheet, it is possible to download some material relating to the project, including a technical report on the results of the project and the final manual describing all the good practices implemented.