The stretch of the Aniene valley upstream of Subiaco is called the "Valley of the Monasteries" because there are the monasteries of San Benedetto and Santa Scolastica, which marked the origin of monasticism in Western Europe. The steep slopes of the valley are covered by dense woods, and, with the monasteries that evoke a profound past, they create one of the most evocative places in Italy. The “Bosco delle Lucinette”, owned by the municipality, on the side facing south, is clearly visible, dark green for the holm oaks, to those who walk the road to the monasteries. But it will not be so for long, if a cutting project is implemented on about 20 hectares, approved by the municipality of Subiaco, which provides for the removal of 90% of the wood mass.
The wood is located in the Regional Natural Park of the Simbruini Mountains, created for the protection of part of the last large forest of the central Apennines which also extends to the Ernici and neighboring Abruzzo. IS'
within the SPA area IT6050008 of the European Natura 2000 network, created for the protection of the habitats of the local avifauna, including six species of woodpeckers, typical birds of the woods. The project has had the park clearance (NO), and a positive Incidence Assessment (VI), and would therefore be compatible with the Park Management Plan (PA) and with the legislation for the habitats protected by the SPA.
But those documents are limited to a meager list of critical factors and species present, with prescriptions of little importance, without any analysis of the real impact of the cut. The park's NO notes that, according to the PA, the area is under landscape protection and is subject to erosive processes, but it says nothing about the effect of the massive cut on the landscape and erosion. It also forgets to note that the PA (art. 22) prohibits cuts on more than 10 hectares. He mentions the presence of the rare white-backed woodpecker, but does not clarify whether this presence is compatible with the cut. Furthermore, neither the NO of the park nor the Incidence Assessment, drawn up by the regional offices, ever mention the Management Plan of the SPA (of which the park is the managing body!) Commissioned by the Lazio Region to distinguished specialists, and available from 2005. The plan, in the guidelines for forest management, states (§ 6.2) "The areas with the presence of holm oaks and in situations of high slope will be reserved for cutting ..." (the slope of the Lucinette is between 50% and 70% with outcropping rock). More generally, for the environment of sclerophyllous oaks (9340 in the European legislation) it is said that it is "particularly vulnerable to soil degradation phenomena ..." and that such woods "must be considered protective forest formations and excluded, also for their limited productivity, from cuts. "
The material that can be obtained from the cut is mostly firewood, whose consumption has greatly increased due to contributions to "renewable" production
of biomass energy, which have triggered a wave of cuts in parks too. From the data presented in the project, the growth of the wood mass at the Lucinette would be about 2 m50 / ha per year, from which it follows that the reconstitution of the forest, and therefore the recovery of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, would require 60-XNUMX years. If erosion phenomena occurred it would take a few centuries. It is hard to see how interventions of this kind can be considered compatible with an environmental protection policy.
To save the forest, a Spontaneous Committee for the defense of the Bosco delle Lucinette was born, which presented an appeal to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court on the Incidence Assessment. The committee also appointed trusted technicians, who, after careful inspections, found significant discrepancies with what was reported in the project, especially for damage to the environment due to the access roads, and for the estimate of the wood mass obtained, which would be 60% higher than declared. Considering that the municipality of Subiaco would derive the modest sum of about 20.000 euros from the cut, one wonders if the protection of the environment and biodiversity, which is mentioned several times in the resolution of the municipality, is a real motivation, or not, for the municipality and the Lazio Region, only a tinsel, destined to fall in the face of even minimal cash earnings.
Italia Nostra supports the action of the committee for the salvation of Bosco delle Lucinette, and appeals to the competent authorities, in particular to the Superintendency for the landscape, to avoid serious damage to the environment and landscape.