INDIVIDUAZIONE DELLE AREE VOCATE ALL’ARBORICOLTURA CON SPECIE A LEGNAME PREGIATO IN PROVINCIA DI FIRENZE

The aim of this work is to define tools for the identification of areas suitable for quality timber plantations. The tools have been experimented in a case study in the Province of Florence (Italy). The study was based upon a bibliographic review on the ecological requirements of selected forest species and the environmental parameters influencing their potential growth. The data were processed both for the implementation of field forms reporting the main ecological requirements of selected species and for the production of environmental suitability maps for arboriculture by the land suitability method. The annual mean diameter and height increment of the prevalent species were measured in a sample of plantations in the case study. The comparison among environmental suitability maps and field observation revealed some criticism. The case study results show that, even where satisfactory diameter and height increments prove suitable choice of environmental conditions for the plantation, very often future quality of timber production has been damaged by wrong cultivation operations.