DAMAGE ANALYSIS IN A SWEET CHESTNUT COPPICE (CASTANEA SATIVA) CAUSED BY WRONG THINNING OPERATION IN CENTRAL ITALY

This report has been developed in order to illustrate the consequences of a wrong cut in a chestnut coppice, located in the Cimini Mountains, in the Viterbo province (center of Italy); it proposes an appropriate action to restore the coppice wood. The analyzed coppice wood, a surface of 2 ha, was submitted to a thinning operation of stumps, 2 years after the end of the minimum allowed cycle (14 years). The performed silvicultural practices allowed plants to increase their volume and to produce higher incomes. In accordance with good silvicultural practices, this type of thinning cuts should regard 10÷20% of the plants in the site. The company erred the wood cutting, eliminating 86% of the plants and several saplings, and creating a large area with little tree cover.
The proposed actions, concerning the damage recovery, include the restoration of structural conditions and natural crop cycle, typical of that species. The study results suggest to anticipate the cut at the end of the cycle, in order to allow a better development of natural regeneration and in order to obtain, in the future, higher quality in cut materials. In economic terms, a damage of about 15.000 Euro ha^-1 was estimated, due to reduced wood production.