Postfire restoration. Salvage harvesting and environmental impact assessment

Abstract

Postfire recovering activities have been more and more investigated in recent years, even if results are still contrasting. In Italy, this issue is still underinvestigated, mainly in our most typical ecosystems, where postfire rehabilitation is poor.
In this paper the Authors describe main aim and first results of a project carried out in Italy. The research aims at assessing the environmental effects of postfire rehabilitation activities in forest, by using an innovative multidisciplinary experimental approach. Experts of regeneration, forest operation, soil, fauna, wood technology and economy of three different Universities are involved. The effects of forest fires, rehabilitation activities, and their interactions will be analysed, with main reference to: evaluation of the environmental effects of forest fires; analysis of the direct logging damages; assessment of regeneration processes as well as effects on fauna and soil. Moreover, both technological studies on wood from burned areas, in order to estimate possible uses, and a model to evaluate whether postfire activities are opportune and to determine the best timing and logging systems for different ecosystems will be carried out.