Keywords

8.1 Introduction

Managing forest is needed to utilise timber as a sustainable resource (Dorren et al., 2004), although since the 1980s, sustainability has been widened to include a variety of values and services over a large scale (O’Hara, 2016). It was in response to the threat to sustainability due to the poor conditions of Europe’s remaining forests at the end of the eighteenth century that forestry originated as a science; this was the first science to explicitly acknowledge the need to safeguard finite natural resources for future generations (Perry, 1998). Hence, silviculture is a need of humankind that aims to obtain usefulness from forests, and not a need of forests for their continued existence (Piussi, 1994). Silviculture has also been described as the need to find a balance between the use of forests and their assessed capacity to provide goods and benefits, considering our undeniable need for human well-being (De Philippis, 1983). Sustainability is obtained by adopting correct silvicultural practices within appropriate forest management plans, effective at different territorial levels and compiled in compliance with the regulatory constrains in force in the different territories.

From this point of view, national forest inventories may offer an important contribution to adjust planning criteria on a national and regional scale to reach the desired level of sustainable forest management to ensure carbon balance under climate warming scenarios, because well-established decision makings should be based on reliable information (Bosela et al., 2016). The operational level of forest planning is known as detailed planning or management planning and its aim is to guarantee that forests can provide goods and benefits continuously without deteriorating (Bernetti, 1989).

Productive aspects of forests depend on many variables, some of which are described in this chapter. They are related to the possibility to access a forest, considering possible physical impediments due for example to the orography or forbidden access on legal grounds. Time and effort to reach a forest should be also reasonably limited and this is achievable only in the presence of an adequate road network (Hippoliti, 1990). INFC2015 assessed the presence of roads in terms of horizontal distance and the difference in altitude between the closest roads or tracks and the sample points. Another important characteristic conditioning the availability of forest areas for wood supply is the micromorphology of the terrain due to the presence of obstacles (boulders, rock, ditches, ravines) that might make it difficult or impossible to use tractors and harvesters. The variables cited may also interact, leading to specific features site by site. However, with equal site conditions, productive importance may be consistently different based on the value of the stand, for example, due to the species composition or timber quality. For this reason, INFC field teams are additionally requested to explicitly assess availability for wood supply based on their expert judgment.

The silvicultural practices in use are strictly related to the utilisation system, as silviculture is actualised by utilisations (Hippoliti, 2005). Section 8.3 shows the silvicultural practices adopted, the utilisation systems and the logging modes observed, i.e., the way and the tools used to cut trees and remove the wood or timber from forests.

The overlapping of state and regional authorities on forests and that of institutions entrusted with protection of the different goods and services provided by forests has brought about complexity in planning. INFC surveys the presence of plans at the various levels where they may be present and also considers the presence of laws that affect availability for wood supply. For each sample plot, all the plans and regulations are recorded. As those plans and regulations are not mutually exclusive and may be present on the same area, the sum of the areas with the presence of different planning and regulations does not equal the total area of Forest or Other wooded land.

8.2 Accessibility and Availability for Wood Supply

The extent to which forests are reachable is assessed by variables that describe the possibility to access the NFI sample points (degree of accessibility) and the ease of reaching them in relation to the horizontal distance and to the difference in altitude between the sample point and the closest road or forest track. Once in the forest, silviculture operations may be difficult in relation to ground roughness, which may also prevent the use of forestry machines (Hippoliti, 2004).

The degree of accessibility is recorded by designating the sample points as ‘accessible’ or ‘not accessible’. Table 8.1 shows the classes for not accessible conditions, that are due to physical orographic impediments impossible to overcome or discouraging due to health or safety hazards, very intricate vegetation or forbidden access on legal grounds or explicit private owner decision (e.g., enclosure). Table 8.2 shows the estimates for the accessible and not accessible area of Forest and of Other wooded land. At inventarioforestale.org/statistiche_INFC, similar statistics are given for the inventory categories of Forest and Other wooded land and for the forest types of the Tall trees forest. The Italian Forest is marked by a high percentage of accessible area (90.3%) and this is also true at the regional level (Fig. 8.1), where the percentage always exceeds 80% with a rather limited variability among the regions. The same considerations can be taken for the forest types in the Tall trees forest; the lowest percentage was found in the Hygrophilous forests (78.6%).

Table 8.1 Causes of inaccessibility / Classi relative ai motivi di non accessibilità del punto inventariale
Table 8.2 Forest and Other wooded land area by accessibility / Estensione del Bosco e delle Altre terre boscate ripartiti per grado di accessibilità
Fig. 8.1
figure 1

Forest area percentage by accessibility / Ripartizione percentuale della superficie del Bosco per grado di accessibilità

Horizontal distance and difference in altitude between the closest road or track and the NFI sample point were assessed on maps, orthophotographs and other thematic layers (also available from WebGIS) before the field trip. This information was verified and complemented by the crew once it was in the NFI plot. This way to assess the presence of roads was introduced with INFC2015 to avoid some problems experienced in the past that caused absence of data on a large portion of the wooded territory. The previous protocol was too demanding, also considering the time needed to record the stated number of GPS positions in those years (Di Cosmo et al., 2011).

The change was substantial, since all sample plots reached in INFC2015 hold data, but as the current estimates also use information from the past NFI (cf. Chap. 5), general information is still lacking for a relevant number of plots used to derive the inventory statistics. For this reason, the comments on presence of roads should be better evaluated keeping in mind that 30.6% of Forest area is not classified for this variable.

Table 8.3 shows the estimates of Forest area by horizontal distance class (0–500, 501–1000, 1001–2000, >2000 m) to the nearest road or forest track. At inventarioforestale.org/statistiche_INFC, similar estimates are available about the Other wooded land, the inventory categories of Forest and the forest types of the Tall trees forest. A total of 47.9% of the Forest area is served by roads within a radius of 500 m. The first distance class is also the most frequent at the regional level, with values spreading from 34.3% of Basilicata and 38.9% of Valle d’Aosta to 57.1% of Alto Adige (Fig. 8.2).

Table 8.3 Forest area by horizontal distance between sampling point and the closest road / Estensione del Bosco ripartito per classi di distanza tra punto di campionamento e punto più vicino di viabilità ordinaria o forestale
Fig. 8.2
figure 2

Forest area percentage by horizontal distance between sampling point and closest road / Ripartizione percentuale della superficie del Bosco per classe di distanza orizzontale rispetto alla viabilità

The Forest area of the first two classes, i.e., distance within 1000 m, reaches 63.4% at the national level but the relative rank of the regions varies. For example, the Forest area percentage of Valle d’Aosta (61.2%) is similar to that of other regions, while Basilicata remains the region with the lowest percentage of Forest area served (45.6%); Alto Adige is still the region with the highest portion of served Forest area (74.7%), but other regions are marked by very close percentages (always over 70% in Veneto, Molise and Sardegna).

Table 8.4 shows the estimates of Forest area by difference in altitude class (0–100, 101–400, >400 m, positive when walking uphill from the road to the sample point and negative when walking downhill). At inventarioforestale.org/statistiche_INFC similar inventory statistics are available about the Other wooded land, the inventory categories of Forest and the forest types of the Tall trees forest. A total of 58.3% of the Forest area is served by roads at an altitude difference of less than 100 m. At a regional level, the Forest area with a road within 100 m of altitude difference is at least 50% (Fig. 8.3) except Valle d’Aosta (42.1%) and Basilicata (44.2%), two regions already designated as having a low percentage of Forest area in the first distance class.

Table 8.4 Forest area by difference in altitude between sampling point and the closest road / Estensione del Bosco ripartito per classi di dislivello tra punto di campionamento e punto più vicino di viabilità ordinaria o forestale
Fig. 8.3
figure 3

Forest area percentage by difference in altitude between sampling point and closest road / Ripartizione percentuale della superficie del Bosco per classe di dislivello rispetto alla viabilità

For the Tall trees forest types, the first class, i.e., 0 +/−100 m, remains the most frequent, but in the Larch and Swiss stone pine type the percentage is only 35.0% compared to 25.8% in the second class (101–400 m). Beech is the only other type where the area in the first class does not reach 50% of the total area (42.8%), since in all the other types more than 50% of the area is within a 100 m difference level. Cork oak is the forest type easiest to reach in terms of difference level, as more than 80% of its area is in the first class.

Ground roughness was classified distinguishing the three large classes in Table 8.5. Tables 8.6 and 8.7 show the area of Forest and of Other wooded land by roughness class. At inventarioforestale.org/statistiche_INFC similar estimates are available for the inventory categories of Forest and for the forest types of the Tall trees forest. A total of 62.6% of the Forest area is on smooth terrain. In the regions, at least 50% of forests grow in similar ground conditions except Valle d’Aosta, whose Forest percent area in the first class is 30.0% and 44.1% of Forest area is on rough terrain. The inventory statistics on the Other wooded land are less interesting, because the percentage of area not classified is relevant. In the regions, Other wooded land area is mainly in the first class but in three regions (Valle d’Aosta, Trentino and Lazio), the most frequent class is the third (ground very rough). At forest type level, only four types (Larch and Swiss stone pine, Hornbeam and Hophornbeam, Holm oak and Other evergreen broadleaved forest) have less than 50% of their forest area in the first class (Fig. 8.4), as this class is generally the most frequent.

Table 8.5 Terrain roughness classes / Classi per l’accidentalità del terreno
Table 8.6 Forest area by ground roughness / Estensione del Bosco ripartito per classi di accidentalità del terreno
Table 8.7 Other wooded land area by ground roughness / Estensione delle Altre terre boscate ripartite per classi di accidentalità del terreno
Fig. 8.4
figure 4

Tall trees forest types percent of area by ground roughness / Ripartizione percentuale della superficie delle categorie forestali dei Boschi alti per accidentalità del terreno

Availability for wood supply is based on a synthetic evaluation of any significant limitations on forestry activities due to regulations or to physical features implying high costs for logging (Table 8.8). Regulatory restrictions include those deriving from protection of values, whether naturalistic (such as for integral reserves within parks), historic, cultural or of other types. Economical limitations may result from site features that make access to the area difficult (also due to lack of roads and tracks), steep slopes, ground roughness and economic constraints linked to the value of the forest products in relation to the market and local habits. Table 8.9 shows the area of Forest and of Other wooded land by availability for wood supply. Similar estimates about the inventory categories of Forest and of Other wooded land, as well as the forest types of the Tall trees forest are available at inventarioforestale.org/statistiche_INFC. At the national level, 88.5% of the Forest area is available for wood supply and the percentage is generally over 80% in the regions; exceptions are Valle d’Aosta (63.1%), Trentino (74.6%) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (61.2%) (Fig. 8.5).

Table 8.8 Causes of unavailability for wood supply / Classi relative ai motivi di indisponibilità al prelievo legnoso
Table 8.9 Forest and Other wooded land area by availability for wood supply / Estensione del Bosco e delle Altre terre boscate ripartiti per disponibilità al prelievo legnoso
Fig. 8.5
figure 5

Forest area percentage by availability for wood supply / Percentuale della superficie del Bosco per disponibilità al prelievo legnoso

The percentage of available area also exceeds 80% in the forest types, but it is 63.9% in the Larch and Swiss stone pine forest and just below 80% (79.1%) in the Scots pine and Mountain pine forest and in the Black pines forest (Fig. 8.6).

Fig. 8.6
figure 6

Tall trees forest types percent of area by availability for wood supply / Percentuale della superficie delle categorie forestali dei Boschi alti, per disponibilità al prelievo legnoso

Data collected allows to estimate the areas not available for wood supply by cause of unavailability, as shown in Fig. 8.7. Unavailability is due to economic constraints in 67.8% of cases, to nature or territory protection in 27.3% of cases and to historic and cultural protection in a small percentage of cases (3.0%).

Fig. 8.7
figure 7

Causes of unavailability for wood supply in Forest / Motivo di indisponibilità al prelievo legnoso nel Bosco

8.3 Silviculture and Forest Utilisations

The silvicultural practices were classified considering type and intensity of the applied interventions as shown in Table 8.10. Table 8.11 shows the area of Forest by silvicultural practice and Table 8.12 shows similar inventory statistics for the Tall trees forest and the Plantations. At the national level, 62.1% of the Forest area is involved in some types of silvicultural practices while 37.4% is not. Figure 8.8 shows that those percentages are variable among the regions.

Table 8.10 Silvicultural practices applied to forest stands / Pratiche colturali applicate ai soprassuoli
Table 8.11 Forest area by management method / Estensione del Bosco ripartito per pratiche colturali
Table 8.12 Area of the inventory categories of Forest by management method / Estensione delle categorie inventariali del Bosco ripartite per pratiche colturali
Fig. 8.8
figure 8

Forest area percentage by management method / Ripartizione percentuale della superficie del Bosco per pratiche colturali

Absence of practices, which mainly concern stands growing on awkward terrains or areas where utilisation is not cost effective, marks regional Forest areas from 12.0% (Alto Adige) to 72.0% (Sicilia). At the regional level, the absence of practices over a percentage of Forest area exceeding 50% was also observed in Valle d’Aosta, Liguria and Abruzzo, but other regions showed values only slightly lower than 50% (Piemonte, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria). The practices more frequently applied in any region were ordinarily minimal, except Alto Adige and Trentino, where the ordinary classic denotes more than 50% of the Forest area. Hence, interventions are typically limited to harvesting wood or timber when mature or at the end of rotation.

The classic ordinary silvicultural practices, which include not only logging when the production cycle ends, but also actions aimed at improving the stands, involve 14.6% of Forest area at the national level. In the regions, only Alto Adige (53.1%), Trentino (55.6%), Veneto (30.8%), Toscana (18%) and Basilicata (19.7%) exceed that percentage. Intensive and special practices are infrequently applied and involve a limited percentage of Forest area. Ordinary intensive practices involve at least 3% of Forest area only in Piemonte (3.3%), Lombardia (4.0%) and Sardegna (4.1%) and in the last two regions they are due exclusively to presence of Plantations. Special practices for secondary products in Campania involve 4.7% of Forest area and in Sardegna 16.0%. The inventory statistics on Forest area by secondary products, shown in Table 8.13, allow for the evaluation that the special practices in Campania are related to chestnut production, while in Sardegna they are mainly due to cork production and to a lesser extent to forage and chestnut.

Table 8.13 Tall trees forest area by secondary products / Estensione dei Boschi alti ripartiti per tipo di prodotti secondari

Utilisation modes were surveyed in the case of ordinary practices. The utilisation modes are categorised based on the class system in Table 8.14. The estimates obtained are in Table 8.15 for Forest, and Table 8.16 for the inventory categories of Forest. Clearcutting with reserves for high forests, and with standards for coppice are the modes more frequently used at the national level (27.3%). This is also generally the case at the regional level (Fig. 8.9), with exceptions especially for the Alpine regions.

Table 8.14 Type of timber utilisation / Classi per le modalità delle utilizzazioni legnose
Table 8.15 Forest area by utilisation system / Estensione del Bosco ripartito per modalità di utilizzazione del soprassuolo
Table 8.16 Area of the inventory categories of Forest by utilisation system / Categorie inventariali del Bosco ripartite per modalità di utilizzazione del soprassuolo
Fig. 8.9
figure 9

Forest area by utilization mode / Ripartizione percentuale della superficie del Bosco per modalità di utilizzazioni forestali

A survey of timber logging modes was made only for forests managed by ordinary silvicultural practices. Timber logging modes fell into the classes described in Table 8.17. Table 8.18 shows the estimates on Forest area by logging mode, while Table 8.19 shows those for the inventory categories of Forest. For Italy in general, wood/timber is extracted mainly by direct loading at the felling site (29.3%), but among the regions this mode prevails only in the southern-central regions (Islands included) except Calabria, where 32.4% of Forest area uses the skidding mode. In the Alpine regions, skidding is the predominant mode, except Valle d’Aosta, where logs are channelled downhill in 25.5% of the Forest area. Cable systems are used only in the North (down to Emilia-Romagna, but only in 1.0% of its Forest area), and helicopters are used only in Valle d’Aosta (1.4% of Forest area) and Alto Adige (0.8%) (Fig. 8.10).

Table 8.17 Logging modes / Classi per le modalità di esbosco
Table 8.18 Forest area by logging mode / Estensione del Bosco ripartito per modalità di esbosco
Table 8.19 Area of the inventory categories of Forest by logging mode / Estensione delle categorie inventariali del Bosco ripartite per modalità di esbosco
Fig. 8.10
figure 10

Forest area by logging mode / Ripartizione percentuale della superficie del Bosco per modalità di esbosco

Table 8.20 shows the inventory statistics on the growing stock annually removed through utilisations. During the twelve months before the inventory survey, growing stock was felled for an overall volume of almost 9.6 Mm3, corresponding to 1.1 m3 per hectare. The regions that report the highest absolute volumes harvested were Veneto, Piemonte, Trentino and Emilia-Romagna (all over 800,000 m3) (Fig. 8.11). In terms of intensity, Veneto and Trentino are the only two regions that harvest more than 2 m3 ha−1 (3.2 m3 ha−1 and 2.9 m3 ha-1, respectively). Logging is very low in Molise (1923 m3) and Puglia (2235 m3). In terms of biomass, 6.3 MMg are annually removed from Forest, 0.7 Mg ha-1  on average, as shown in Table 8.21 and in Fig. 8.12.

Table 8.20 Growing stock removed annually from the inventory categories of Forest, total and per hectare / Valori totali e per ettaro del volume legnoso utilizzato annualmente nelle categorie inventariali del Bosco
Fig. 8.11
figure 11

Growing stock removed annually, total and per hectare (to improve readability, very long bars have been limited and true values are given in numbers) / Volume totale e per ettaro utilizzato annualmente (per migliorare la lettura, è stata limitata la lunghezza di barre molto lunghe e i valori reali sono indicati con numero)

Table 8.21 Biomass removed annually from the inventory categories of Forest, total and per hectare / Valori totali e per ettaro della fitomassa utilizzata annualmente per le categorie inventariali del Bosco
Fig. 8.12
figure 12

Biomass removed annually, total and per hectare (to improve readability, very long bars have been limited and true values are given in numbers) / Biomassa totale e per ettaro utilizzata annualmente (per migliorare la lettura, è stata limitata la lunghezza di barre molto lunghe e i valori reali sono indicati con numero)

8.4 Planning

Forest planning has been regulated at national level since Royal Decree No. 3267/23 was enforced, which dictated rules for forest utilisation in conformity with economic plans and Overall and Forest Police Regulations (PMPF) aiming principally at maintaining the hydro-geological equilibrium in mountain territories. Following a transfer to the regions of competence over forests (Presidential Decree No. 616/1977), the regulation of forest planning was shifted to these administrative agencies, except for the guideline and coordination functions, which remained under state rule. As a result, current planning varies considerably in terms of both organisation and diffusion, according to the territorial district.

INFC records planning at three levels, as shown in Table 8.22. The PMPF are prescriptive rules for silvicultural activities and forest management in the administrative provinces and consequently can delineate the contours of forest planning. The presence of PMPF is recorded at the broadest level of planning. At the intermediate level, guideline planning typically relates to wider areas than single company properties, e.g., mountainous areas and natural parks even when land use is not forest.

Table 8.22 Classes of the forest planning / Classi per la pianificazione forestale

Forest planning in its classic meaning refers to detailed management plans for forests falling under a single ownership, and this is the most detailed level recorded by INFC. In planning forms at different levels, more than one mode is recorded. Table 8.23 shows the inventory statistics on presence of planning for Forest and for Other wooded land; Table 8.24 shows those for Tall trees forest and Plantations, and Table 8.25 shows those for the inventory categories of Other wooded land. Table 8.26 shows the area of Forest and of Other wooded land with detailed plans, and the two that follow (Tables 8.27 and 8.28) show analogue statistics for the inventory categories of Forest and of Other wooded land. The estimates for Forest and Other wooded land by PMPF and those for the forest types of Forest and of Other wooded land by PMPF are available at inventarioforestale.org/statistiche_INFC. Estimates are also available for Forest and Other wooded land and their inventory categories, by guideline planning. Finally, for the Tall trees forest types the estimates by presence of planning, PMPF, guideline planning and detailed plans are available.

Table 8.23 Forest and Other wooded land area by presence of forest planning / Estensione del Bosco e delle Altre terre boscate ripartite per stato della pianificazione forestale
Table 8.24 Area of the inventory categories of Forest and Other wooded land by presence of forest planning / Estensione delle categorie inventariali del Bosco ripartite per stato della pianificazione forestale
Table 8.25 Area of the inventory categories of Other wooded land by presence of planning / Estensione delle categorie inventariali delle Altre terre boscate ripartite per stato della pianificazione forestale
Table 8.26 Forest and Other wooded land area by presence of detailed plans / Estensione del Bosco e delle Altre terre boscate ripartiti per presenza di “Pianificazione di dettaglio”
Table 8.27 Area of the inventory categories of Forest by presence of detailed plans / Estensione delle categorie inventariali del Bosco, ripartite per presenza di “Pianificazione di dettaglio”
Table 8.28 Area of the inventory categories of Other wooded land by presence of detailed plans / Estensione delle categorie inventariali delle Altre terre boscate, ripartite per presenza di “Pianificazione di dettaglio”

In Italy, 92.2% of Forest area is regulated by at least one of the three planning levels considered; the percentage is 50.7% for Other wooded land, although this comparison should be evaluated considering that the not-classified area for Other wooded land is rather high (23.0%). Planning marks a consistent percentage of Forest area at the regional level also, as it generally exceeds 80%. Figure 8.13 shows the percentage of Forest area with planning at the three levels considered by INFC.

Fig. 8.13
figure 13

Forest area percentage by planning level / Percentuale di superficie del Bosco per livello di dettaglio della pianificazione forestale

The role of PMPF is relevant in all regions as Forest area falls under their regulation; there is also little variability among the regions, compared to the two other levels of planning. In Trentino, Forest area under PMPF is apparently low because PMPF is actually replaced by analogue regulations (Trentino is an autonomous administration) and/or by the forest management plans, which have precedence over general regulations. Guideline planning only occurs in 2.3% of the Forest area and that percentage is exceeded in only seven regions: Valle d’Aosta, Lombardia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Lazio and Sicilia. Detailed planning only occurs on 15.5% of the Italian Forest area. Only eight regions exceed that percentage (Valle d’Aosta, Lombardia, Alto Adige, Trentino, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Molise and Campania), generally in the North of the country. Alto Adige (94.6%) and Trentino (75.8%) are two exceptional cases in the percentage of Forest area with detailed plans, and they are the only two regions where the percentage exceeds 40%.