after years of abandonment we start again

L’AQUILA – When in Italy in recent years we began to talk about forestation again, we quickly came to terms with reality. More than 60 million trees to be planted: nei national and regional nurseries they were there not even 5 million copies available. A void that has been created over the years almost everywhere along the peninsula and also in Abruzzo.

Three regional nurseries remain, in disastrous conditions after years of defunding. Only now, thanks to the renewed attention to the topic and the passion of the organization’s technical enthusiasts, are they getting back on their feet, not without difficulty.

With Francesco Contu, official of the Parks and Forestry service of the Abruzzo Region, we went to do an inspection in one of the three remaining nurseries, that of Mammarella in L’Aquila. The other two are that of Roccaraso is that of Saint Philomena in Chieti.

Fortunately, things are moving forward in Mammarella after years of abandonment. It is a historic nursery, the oldest in Abruzzo, planted at the end of the 19th century. Over the last ten years there had only been one employee left working, the nurseryman Berardino. He’s been here since the mid-80s, and even wanted to stay here: “I like the work and the time has flown by” tells.

Ten years ago there were around twenty employees. But at the time of the great reforestations, to make the slopes of our mountains safe, up to a hundred people worked here at the same time and in L’Aquila everyone heard the proud stories and tales. There was even a track with a mine cart system for transporting seedlings from one point in the nursery to another.

Today everything is more complex and despite the renewed environmental sensitivity, it is even difficult to find someone who can be passionate about a similar job.

In any case, the Abruzzo Region, which still doesn’t have any money for hiring in nurseries, ultimately entrusted Mammarella to a social cooperative with the service contract, The Hearth of Celestine. They are there to supervise the work Berardino and Francesco.

But we are also working on other fronts. Contacts have been initiated with the University of L’Aquila to stimulate research and, why not, some spin-offs. Because Mammarella is a immense nursery of over six hectares. And there is also a laboratory at all points, even one sterile room, which can still be considered modern today and which lends itself to multiple uses, for example the mycorrhization of truffles and the micropropagation of forest species. The laboratory was built in the 1990s, cost the community a whopping 2.5 billion lire, was supposed to produce mycorrhized seedlings and even has a sterile room where to develop the micropropagation of the truffle.

In the meantime, some of the greenhouses have been restored. There great shed it was repaired after the earthquake. There old caretaker’s house, however, is still unusable, but the funds for its demolition and reconstruction are there. Behind the house, however, there is a small one chapel. It is the first chapel of the sheep track because Mammarella develops in length, just outside Collemaggio towards the east, right on what was once the Great sheep track of the great transhumance and in the chapel the sheep were blessed by entering through one door and exiting through the other.

The space is immense, private individuals could also be involved and avoid the squabbles of the past which also contributed to the end of public nursery farming, which in Abruzzo is regulated by law 3 of 2014. In short, there is no shortage of ideas and the visionary goal is to make it a lively place again.

Furthermore, it is a nursery with great potential. The Forests and Parks sector of the Abruzzo Region worked for two years to put it back on the road, now the first funds and the first works have arrived. The road is arduous, and after all, knowledge that has been lost over the years must also be rebuilt.

However, the interest is there, certified and quality forestation is also an urgent need to face new environmental challenges. It will be the task of regional politics to give strength and continuity to this restart.