In three pine forests of Caprera , among the most beautiful, accessible and frequented, with a tourist-recreational vocation, 440 pine trees will soon be cut down for safety reasons.
These are the pine forest known as the Marsala Mare (where 142 trees will be felled and pruning will be carried out on 570); the pine forest known as the Mille (77 trees to be felled and pruning carried out on 536) and the pine forest of Stagnali, equipped with a wooden playground for children (urgent felling of 20 trees, this year of 218 and pruning of 556).
The cutting will be carried out by the Forestas Agency with which the La Maddalena Archipelago National Park has an agreement.
The felling operations must be concluded by March 31st , a deadline imposed - as the island is within the “Natura 2000” site - by the Environmental Assessment, Impact and Incidence Service of the Sardinia Region for the Protection of Migratory Birds.
The pine forests of Caprera, although some are centuries old and others younger like those in question, are not natural but planted, at one time, by man, for which, says Dr. Paola Brundu of the Environmental Office of the Park Authority, «a management process should have been held, with gradual thinning over time, which however did not occur regularly or not always according to silvicultural manuals». The consequence is that today there is a high density of pines, about 500 per hectare against the 200 that there should be. «This has led, over time, to excessive competition between trees, which has created a certain instability of the stands», says Dr. Brundu.
In recent years, worrying phytosanitary problems have occurred, in particular due to an insect, which "acts by digging tunnels in the trunk of trees, making them unstable, with the risk of collapse at any moment".
