Woodlands improvement

Friuli resurgences were once an open environment, characterized by awash waters, alkaline fens and wet meadows alternation.
Woods, which refer to the 91E0 “Alnion-Glutinoso-Incanae alluvial forests” priority habitat, have grown only in the last decades because of the lack of mowing and the water table lowering.
In such areas, private owners often planted alloctonous species as the hybrid plane-tree – better than the alder and the willow as firewood – and, in dry lands, the false acacia. In these areas,  the renaturalization of forest vegetation is carried out through the substitution of alloctonous species with local trees (Alnus glutinosa, Salix alba, Fraxinus angustifolia, Ulmus minor, Salix cinerea).
The new woodlands purchased by the project,  which can not be converted into alkaline fens, are improved through the copse shoots clearing and thinning out.

These operations are carried out manually with chain saws and strimmers and using a winch to carry away cut materials. 1 or 2 year-old saplings - grown from local seeds in Regional nurseries - are planted and protected with shelters and stakes.

Results

Floristic and structural improvements were made in about 13 hectares of wooded areas.

The woods improvement actions - made on public areas - have been carried out to encourage the transformation of groves into forest trees. It was also important to support spontaneous species as alder, oak and white ash and progressively eliminate man introduced false acacia and hybrid pale-tree.