Combined forest and soil management after a catastrophic event

Zanella, Augusto; Ponge, Jean-François; Andreetta, Anna; Aubert, Michael; Bernier, Nicolas; Bonifacio, Eleonora; Bonneval, Karine; Bolzonella, Cristian; Chertov, Oleg; Costantini, Edoardo A. C.; De Nobili, Maria; Fusaro, Silvia; Giannini, Raffaello; Junod, Pascal; Katzensteiner, Klaus; Kwiatkowsk-Malina, Jolantha; Menardi, Roberto; Mo, Lingzi; Mohammad, Safwan; Schnitzler, Annik; ... (2020). Combined forest and soil management after a catastrophic event Journal of Mountain Science, 17(10), pp. 2459-2484. Kexue Chubanshe Science Press 10.1007/s11629-019-5890-0

Preview

Text Zanella2020_Article_CombinedForestAndSoilManagemen.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (3MB) | Preview

At the end of October 2018, a storm of unprecedented strength severely damaged the forests of the eastern sector of the Italian Alps. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the University of Padua. After eight months of discussion, the authors of this article wrote a consensus text. The sometimes asper debate brought to light some crucial aspects: 1) even experienced specialists may have various opinions based on scientific knowledge that lead to conflicting proposals for action. For some of them there is evidence that to restore a destroyed natural environment it is more judicious to do nothing; 2) the soil corresponds to a living structure and every ecosystem’s management should be based on it; 3) faced with a catastrophe, people and politicians find themselves unarmed, also because they rarely have the scientific background to understand natural processes. Yet politicians are the only persons who make the key decisions that drive the economy in play and therefore determine the near future of our planet. This article is an attempt to respond directly to a governor with a degree in animal production science, who formally and prudently asked a university department called “Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry” for help before taking decisions; 4) the authors also propose an artistic interpretation of facts (uncontrolled storm) and conclusions (listen to the soil). Briefly, the authors identify the soil as an indispensable source for the renewal of the destroyed forest, give indications on how to prepare a map of the soils of the damaged region, and suggest to anchor on this soil map a series of silvicultural and soil management actions that will promote the soil conservation and the faster recovery of the natural dynamic stability and resilience.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Agriculture School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Agriculture > Soils and Geoinformation
Name:	Zanella, Augusto; Ponge, Jean-François; Andreetta, Anna; Aubert, Michael; Bernier, Nicolas; Bonifacio, Eleonora; Bonneval, Karine; Bolzonella, Cristian; Chertov, Oleg; Costantini, Edoardo A. C.; De Nobili, Maria; Fusaro, Silvia; Giannini, Raffaello; Junod, Pascal; Katzensteiner, Klaus; Kwiatkowsk-Malina, Jolantha; Menardi, Roberto; Mo, Lingzi; Mohammad, Safwan; Schnitzler, Annik; Sofo, Adriano; Tatti, Dylan and Hager, Herbert
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SD Forestry
ISSN:	1672-6316
Publisher:	Kexue Chubanshe Science Press
Language:	English
Submitter:	Simon Lutz
Date Deposited:	06 Jan 2021 07:08
Last Modified:	18 Oct 2021 02:18
Publisher DOI:	10.1007/s11629-019-5890-0
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.14107
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/14107