Silvicultural interventions to protect the forest habitat 9180*

LIFE08 NAT/IT/000362

Silvicultural interventions aimed at the protection and enhancement of the forest formations of the Tilio-Acerion gorge environments (habitat 9180*) in the area of ​​the Colli Berici.

REFERENTE PROGETTO
Miola Pierangelo

SITO WEB

To preserve the priority habitat 9180* by controlling invasive alien species and the distribution, through planting, of characteristic and appropriate species of gorge forests (Tilio-Acerion).

There were three main types of intervention implemented to protect and enhance the target habitat. It must be said that given the limited extension of habitat 9180*, buffer areas around the main nuclei have also been included to ensure the protection of these but also to encourage their possible future extension.

The interventions were aimed at:

• contain invasive species (black locust and ailanthus) mainly by looking for and cutting the suckers’ shoots from the stumps;
• improve the composition and structure of the stands (through thinning from below, phytosanitary cuts and conversion to high-forest);
• planting indigenous species ecologically suitable for the station.

In any case it is necessary to foresee maintenance actions in the following years, and in particular: cleaning of weeds in young plantations, possible compensation actions and control of shoots of locust and ailanthus suckers.

The Colli Berici (VI) represent a mosaic of different environments closely interconnected with each other. Specifically, the Colli Berici SCI hosts numerous highly natural habitats, rich in species of high conservation interest, even if inserted in a geographic area, or rather the heavily urbanized Venetian plain.

These are normal silvicultural interventions that can be replicated everywhere, the lack of success in some contexts of the girdling has certainly stimulated reflections on the methods of elimination of some invasive species. The need for maintenance interventions demands for medium-term planning and the possibility of carrying out control interventions.

From the LIFE GoProFor database, in the final part of the sheet, it is possible to download some material relating to the project, including final technical report (where Action C.4 is dedicated to silvicultural interventions for the protection of forest habitats), and the Layman's report.