Productivity, energy and pollutant emissions analysis in a coniferous plantation thinning addressed to forest fire prevention

Forest fires are one of the major natural risks in large areas of the World. Moreover, forest fires may be a very dangerous threat for the communities living in the wildland urban interface. So, it is very important to improve knowledge and to continue in finding new solution to improve forest fire prevention and management. In order to reduce the occurrence of forest fires, their negative effects and to reduce the burned area it is necessary to develop a full range of prevention activities. Many authors highlighted that fuel management (prescribed burn, thinning, slashing etc.) may be very effective in forest fire prevention (reduction of fire intensity, rate of spread, and fire severity).The aim of this paper is to analyze thinning operation carried out in a fire prone environment for increasing the stand resilience to fire. The study was developed in a Maritime pine stand (19,8 hectares) located in the municipality of Massa (Tuscany – Central Italy). The average age of trees was about 52 years. The stand showed poor vegetative condition due to thinning delay. In detail, the silvicultural treatment was a selective thinning addressed to promote the understory broadleaves growth and to reduce the fuel load. During logging whole tree system was applied, and felling and extraction were based on an intermediate mechanization level. The main results of the study were related to productivity, costs, energy input and engine pollutant emissions related to thinning operation. This study was performed in the context of the PRIN 2009 project ‘‘in_FLAMING: Developing innovative models and techniques for integrated fuel management for fire prevention in Mediterranean and temperate forests’’ (national coordinator: P. Corona) funded by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research