The conference will offer two field trips designed to show attendees nearby areas that have experienced wildfire or been managed with prescribed fire and integrated land management goals. All field trips are scheduled for Friday, October 7, 2022. The field trip fee is $60 (approx 55€) and includes transportation and lunch. Additional details will be sent to field trip participants as we get closer to the event.
Please note: We do not recommend attending a field trip if you also plan to travel Friday afternoon or evening. All return times are estimates and unforeseen events such as traffic may cause delays.
**Update September 28: The Monti Pisani Field Trip has been canceled. All individuals who registered for that field trip are invited join the LIFE GrAnATHa Field Trip.
PRESCRIBED BURN, PISTOGLIAN APENNINES
This field trip will take place about 90 minutes from Florence in the Pistoglian Apennines. Participants will visit an area where a prescribed burn is being executed for multiple integrated land management goals. The burn objectives are: a) wildfire prevention through the creation of an area of discontinuity of the fuel around fire sensitive forests; b) Regione Toscana fire-fighting personnel training; c) habitat maintenance, keeping the area open, renovating and improving pasture, limiting the expansion of grass and shrub species such as Brachipodium pinnatum, Spartium junceum and Rubus ulmifolius; d) restoration of the “blueberries” degraded and invaded by the false blueberry (Vaccinium gaultherioides) to improve blueberry production and economical value-chain.
The prescribed burn will be coordinated and carried out by the staff of the Tuscany Region and DREAm Italia and is dependent upon conditions (see Option 1 below). If the burn cannot be conducted, participants will visit an alternative site nearby to discuss fire and ingrated land management goals (see Option 2 below). In the event of bad weather, the excursion will be diverted to the other scheduled visits (Pratomagno or Vicopisano).
Departure/Return: If the prescribed fire can be executed (Option 1), participants will meet around 6:00am near the Santa Maria Novella station with return in the afternoon around 5:00pm. If the prescribed burn cannot be executed (Option 2), participants will meet around 7:00am near the Santa Maria Novella station and return in the evening around 8:00pm. Exact times and location will be sent to participants closer to the event.
Difficulty of the Route: Medium
What to Bring: Hiking boots/shoes, warm clothing, mackintosh/raincoat, water (additional water will be available at lunch)
Program Details:
Option 1: Prescribed Fire (locality La Fredduccia in the Municipality of San Marcello-Piteglio): Participants will arrive by bus around 8:00am in the locality of Butale. From the car park, they will continue by foot for 30 minutes with a difference in altitude of 25 m. A visit to the area during the execution of a prescribed fire will be possible if weather conditions permit. Participants will have discussion with the technicians present at the site, have a packed lunch, and then return to the car park to return to Florence. If visiting the prescribed fire area is not possible, the excursion will follow the program of Option 2 (see below).
Option 2: No Prescribed Fire (Croce Arcana and Fredduccia): Participants will arrive around 9:00am in Cutigliano. From here, it will be necessary to take the cable car to reach Doganaccia around 9:30am (total hours with bus and cable car approx. 2 hours). From Doganaccia, participants will walk for 45 minutes to 1 hour (1.3 km with a difference in altitude of 120 m) to Croce Arcana to visit an area of blueberries where a prescribed fire site was implemented in 2021. After the visit, there will be a break for a packed lunch. After the break, return to Doganaccia to take the cable car and bus to the Option 1 area (approx. 45 minutes) to see where prescribed fire treatments are planned soon.
INTERVENTION SITES OF THE LIFE GRANATHA PROJECT
The field trip will be in the Pratomagno region, about 1 hour drive southeast of Firenze city center, where participants will visit intervention areas of the LIFE GrAnATHa Project. LIFE GrAnATHa is running from 2016 to 2022 with the aim to create a wildfire resilient landscape in the fire-prone Pratomagno region, while achieving multiple integrated socio-ecological objectives. The LIFE GrAnATHa fuel management program implemented along fuelbreaks and in larger blocks integrates: i) nature conservation measures to maintain target species and habitat 4030-92/43/EEC by prescribed burning and cutting. ii) An economic production chain of ecological brooms made using the cut material of Erica scoparia branches resulting from conservation interventions. iii) The prescribed burning training program of fire professionals of the Regione Toscana. The project is coordinated by DREAm Italia and involves land management and research agencies. The visit will deal with many aspects related to managing fire resistant and resilient landscapes, economical sustainability of fuel management programs, nature conservation, heathland fire ecology, avian ecology, prescribed burning training and ecological broom production using traditional approaches.
Departure/Return: Participants will meet around 7:30am near the Santa Maria Novella station and return in the afternoon around 4:00 pm.
Difficulty of the Route: Medium
What to Bring: Hiking boots/shoes, warm clothing, mackintosh/raincoat, water (additional water will be available at lunch)
Program Details:
Participants will arrive by bus around 9:30am near a photovoltaic plant in the locality of Caspri in the municipality of Castelfranco Piandiscò. From the arrival point, we set off on a footpath approximately 950m long for a total uphill difference in height of approximately 100 m to reach the base of the construction site. An average walking time of about 20 minutes is estimated. To reach the area of interest, we will continue approximately 500 m with an average gradient of about 20 percent. From 10:00am to 1:00pm, we will visit the site area with a description of the LIFE GrAnATHa project and a comparison of different forms of treatment of heather. From 1:00 – 2:00pm, a packed lunch with typical products from Pratomagno will be provided. At 2:30pm, the group will depart by bus to return to Florence.