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EXECUTION
nr. 8:
Enhancement
and improvement of the willow grove
(D.
5)
[
DETAILS / INTERVENTION nr. 8 >> ]
The
interventions aim at filling the gaps and interruptions
of continuity in the riparian vegetation tract near
the river in Bobbio, through the enhancement of
forest mantels characterized by the prevalence of
willow trees and shrubs.
View
from the high of the area and vegetable riparian
mantel before the intervention - it results little
developed and characterised by species not in line
with the potentiality of the habitat of Community
interest.
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The
quality and quantity improvement of the vegetable
river mantels aims at restoring optimum conditions
for the rest and reproduction of migratory birds
of Community importance and for the inversion of
the current vegetable trends, too much favourable
to species of sinanthropus origin as hybrid poplars.
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We
asked forest expert Dr Marcello Pilla, who has followed
the implementation of the intervention, a few questions.
What
is a vegetation riparian corridor, what are its
optimum functions and characteristics?
It
is the vegetation mantel, which follows a river
course side by side. It is usually characterised
by various species of willow trees and shrubs. It
has an important function of refuge for birds; it
improves the fluvial habitat to the advantage of
fish populations and represents an important element
of hydraulic balance of rivers and streams. It can
be some meters or dozen of meters wide.
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How
have you concretely intervened to restore the Bobbio
tract: what species have been "planted", when will
the first results be visible and what is the time
needed for the tract to consolidate?
We
have used willow trees (White Willow) and shrubs
(Purple Willow and Riparian Willow). Trunks, cuttings
and brush of willows found on the river courses
next the area of the intervention, represent the
propagation material. The first results are already
visible and in a few years the planted willows will
surely have relevant dimensions.
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In
the photos why are there trunks, which are about
to be planted and brushes left on the soil?
The willow spreads well by vegetable way - i.e.
not by seed but by parts of plant or branches -
and the planting of trunks and brush imitates the
natural process according to which the willow species
spread in relation to the river flow phenomena,
material transport and following laying with planting.
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What
is the extension of the intervention?
The intervention has an exemplary character and
therefore has a circumscribed planimetry. In all
we have realized half a kilometre of willow live
cutting along the exposed gravelly river bed and
about one hundred and fifty bank protection with
white willow on a reach in erosion.
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Why
are the willow trees and shrubs better than hybrid
poplars?
Because
the hybrid poplar is not an autochthonous species,
nor a species but a hybrid indeed! Therefore it
has no ecological value and in fact it is not a
species characterising the habitat of Community
interest concerned by the intervention.
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