Bosco Sacile in Carlino, Udine Province, is an ancient lowland forest that grants us the chance to rewind the hands of the clock and take a leap back a few centuries, to discover with our own eyes what the landscape of the Po Valley was like hundreds of years ago.
What has happened to Bosco Sacile in recent years? In recent decades, the ancient lowland forest has been subjected to uncontrolled, unsustainable cutting and irresponsible forest management; as if that were not enough, it has been hit by extreme weather events such as the 2017 storm that recorded winds of up to 120 km/h in Friuli. As a result, in 2018 the forest was in very poor condition and had not been accessible to the public for many, many years.
Alessandro Arnosti, founder of the Natura7 Agricultural Society and a great forest enthusiast, fell in love with this wonderful forest and decided to take care of it. He then managed to buy it from the previous owners and, together with us, decided to embark on a path to restore the area with the aim of restoring the health of the forest and reactivating its recreational and educational functions. We measured our environmental performance, reduced it and focused on capturing residual impacts. Choosing to involve citizens in a reforestation project such as this testifies to the desire to return a forest heritage that must not be abandoned. Fighting the climate crisis requires actions like these, in which the planting of new trees is accompanied by the management of existing forests.
This forest is part of the Plain Forestry Association.