THE USE OF CORK OAK IN THE ECOLOGICAL AND LANDSCAPE RESTORATION OF THE LATIUM HILLS

Its economic importance is well known, but the species is also ecologically precious. Notably, in fact, it is extremely resistant to forest fires.

Because of its properties a project is on its way to restore the marginal lands of northern Latium through the reforestation with selected specimens of cork oak. The main aims of the project are:

• the genetic comparison between cork oak of different Italian provenances
• the establishment of an experimental arboretum which will collect cork oak deriving from the 34 main European areas
• the running of experimental trials on innovative reforestation techniques, such as the Miyawaki method.

The methodology and initial results of the project are reported.

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