Opportunities for coppice management at the landscape level: the Italian experience

doi:10.3832/ifor1865-009

Opportunities for coppice management at the landscape level: the Italian experience

Paola Mairota⁽¹⁾ , Maria Chiara Manetti⁽²⁾, Emilio Amorini⁽²⁾, Francesco Pelleri⁽²⁾, Marco Terradura⁽³⁾, Mauro Frattegiani⁽³⁾, Paola Savini⁽³⁾, Francesco Grohmann⁽⁴⁾, Paolo Mori⁽⁵⁾, Pier Giorgio Terzuolo⁽⁶⁾, Pietro Piussi⁽⁷⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 9, Issue 5, Pages 775-782 (2016)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor1865-009
Published: Aug 04, 2016 - Copyright © 2016 SISEF

Review Papers

Collection/Special Issue: IUFRO division 8.02 - Mendel University Brno (Czech Republic) 2015
Coppice forests: past, present and future
Guest Editors: Tomas Vrska, Renzo Motta, Alex Mosseler

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Coppice silviculture has a long tradition in Italy. Societal demands have led to the development of forest management techniques for integrating wood production with other kinds of forest uses and regulations have been issued to limit forest degradation. In Italy, 35% of the national forest cover is currently managed under coppice silvicultural systems that provide 66% of the annual wood production. Fuel-wood demand is increasing and a large amount of fuel-wood is currently imported in Italy. Modern coppice practices differ from those adopted in the past and may have a reduced impact on ecosystem characteristics and processes. Nevertheless, coppice silviculture has a bad reputation mostly on grounds that are beyond economic, technical and ecological rationales. Neither cessation of use nor a generalized conversion from coppice to high forest are likely to respond simultaneously to the many demands deriving from complex and articulated political and economic perspectives operating at global, European, national, regional and forest stand-level scales. Different approaches of modern silviculture to coppice successfully tested in Italy for more than a decade are illustrated. We propose to combine different options at the stand and sub-stand level, including either development without human interference or conversion to high forest, and to apply these approaches within the framework of novel forest management plans and regionally consistent administrative procedures. This bottom-up approach represents a potential solution to the socio-economic and environmental challenges affecting coppicing as a silvicultural system.

Keywords

Biodiversity, Coppice Silviculture, Environmental Change, Landscape, Socio-economic Dynamics, Sustainable Forest Management

Authors’ address

(1)

DiSAAT, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, v. Orabona 4, I-70125 Bari (Italy)

(2)

Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura - Forestry Research Centre, v.le Santa Margherita 80, I-52100 Arezzo (Italy)

(3)

Arborea coworking, v. A. Diaz 5/7, I-06128 Perugia (Italy)

(4)

Servizio Foreste, economia e territorio montano, Regione Umbria, v. M. Angeloni 61, I-06124 Perugia (Italy)

(5)

Compagnia delle Foreste, v. Pietro Aretino 8, I-52100 Arezzo (Italy)

(6)

Institute for Timber Plants and the Environment (IPLA), c.so Casale 476, Torino (Italy)

(7)

University of Florence, v. San Bonaventura 13, I-50145 Firenze (Italy)

Corresponding author

Paola Mairota
paola.mairota@uniba.it

Citation

Mairota P, Manetti MC, Amorini E, Pelleri F, Terradura M, Frattegiani M, Savini P, Grohmann F, Mori P, Terzuolo PG, Piussi P (2016). Opportunities for coppice management at the landscape level: the Italian experience. iForest 9: 775-782. - doi: 10.3832/ifor1865-009

Academic Editor

Tomas Vrska

Paper history

Received: Sep 08, 2015
Accepted: May 26, 2016

First online: Aug 04, 2016
Publication Date: Oct 13, 2016
Publication Time: 2.33 months

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