La gestione della foresta di Vallombrosa dal 1876 al 2006: analisi delle cartografie storiche

The Vallombrosa forest (Florence, Italy) has a long management history. From 1876 to 1970 eight forest management plans were draw-up which prescribed various silvicultural systems. In 2006 a new forest management plan was prepared by the University of Florence and the forest type maps of past management plans were digitally acquired to create a historical geodatabase of the forest. This paper examines the influence of past forest management choices on forest type distribution in the Vallombrosa forest. To do thisa multitemporal analysis was performed using a GIS to compare the forest type maps. Results show that pure silver fir forests expanded as a consequence of forest management choices while broadleaved forests (e.g., beech) were largely replaced by fir.