Combined forest and soil management after a catastrophic event

Augusto Zanella (1) , Jean-François Ponge (2) , Anna Andreetta (3) , Michaël Aubert (4) , Nicolas Bernier (2) , Eleonora Bonifacio (5) , Karine Bonneval (6) , Cristian Bolzonella (1) , Oleg Chertov (7) , Edoardo Costantini (8) , Maria de Nobili (9) , Silvia Fusaro (10) , Raffaello Giannini (11) , Pascal Junod (12) , Klaus Katzensteiner (13) , Jolanta Kwiatkowska-Malina (14) , Roberto Menardi (10) , Lingzi Mo (15) , Safwan Mohammad (16) , Annik Schnitzler (17) , Adriano Sofo (18) , Dylan Tatti (19) , Herbert Hager (13)

1 TeSAF - Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry
2 MECADEV - Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution
3 UniFI - Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence = Université de Florence
4 ECODIV - Étude et compréhension de la biodiversité
5 UNITO - Università degli studi di Torino = University of Turin
6 Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg
7 University of Applied Sciences Bingen
8 ANA - Accademia Nazionale di Agricoltura
9 Università degli Studi di Udine - University of Udine [Italie]
10 Unipd - Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua
11 AISF - Accademia Italiana di Scienze Forestali
12 SFFN - Service de la Faune, des Forêts et de la Nature
13 BOKU - Universität für Bodenkultur Wien = University of Natural Resources and Life [Vienne, Autriche]
14 Warsaw University of Technology [Warsaw]
15 Guangzhou University
16 University of Debrecen Egyetem [Debrecen]
17 LIEC - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux
18 DICeM
19 HAFL - Haute école des sciences agronomiques, forestières et alimentaires

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.

Mots clés: Vaia storm; wind damages; soil organic carbon; soil functioning; humus form; climate change

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie; Milieux et Changements globaux; Ecosystèmes; Interactions entre organismes

Augusto Zanella, Jean-François Ponge, Anna Andreetta, Michaël Aubert, Nicolas Bernier, et al.. Combined forest and soil management after a catastrophic event. Journal of Mountain Science, 2020, 17 (10), pp.2459-2484. ⟨10.1007/s11629-019-5890-0⟩. ⟨hal-02962497⟩