News
Slovenian and Italian foresters help regenerate forest fire site Cerje to combat climate change
On Thursday, 5th of December 2019, over 65 foresters from Slovenia and Italy (Slovenia Forest Service, Slovenian Forestry Institute and Corpo Forestale Friuli Venezia Giulia) gathered to help in the reforestation effort of the fire forest site in Cerje. The fire, which took place in August 2019, damaged approximately 100 hectares (ha) of black pine forests. This was the second forest fire in last 30 years – a forest fire had previously damaged 250 ha of pine and 170 ha of deciduous forest stands in 1994. Then, the damaged site was afforested with seedlings of black pine (Pinus nigra) and european hophornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia).
During the action, foresters from both sides of the border planted 4000 seedlings of black pine of a suitable provenance at the damaged forest site. Along with reforestation and education, cross-border cooperation was a main theme of the event, which took place in the vicinity of The monument of peace Cerje.
When all of the seedlings were planted, Boris Rantaša from the Slovenia Forest Service presented the LIFEGENMON and Life SySTEMiC projects to the gathered participants. These projects address the topic of genetic diversity within the tree species and forest stands, which is extremely important in the context of adaptation of forests to climate change. This presentation was an introduction to a discussion on how foresters see and deal with the impacts of extreme weather events and climatic changes in their daily practice.
The event was also visited by media – the Slovenian national television RTV Slovenija will present the event in »Na lepše«, a TV programme dealing with the topics tourism and sustainability.
Photo: Boris Rantaša
