Field trip to “Bosco della Fontana”: an ancient peri-urban forest managed for biodiversity conservation, 2018 April 02

Field trip to “Bosco della Fontana”: an ancient peri-urban forest managed for biodiversity conservation

04/02/2018

The participants of the World Forum on Urban Forests are invited for a field trip to the Nature Reserve “Bosco della Fontana”, an ancient forest historically and ecologically connected to the city of Mantova.

Bosco Fontana is one of the last remaining forests in the Po River Valley. For over 20 years this Reserve has been managed according to strict conservational criteria, specifically aimed at the conservation of dead wood and the related fauna.

Bosco Fontana is part of the Natura 2000 Network and here, monitoring of species and habitats of community interest are carried out as well as concrete conservation actions.

A large number of scientific studies have been conducted by the National Centre for Forest Biodiversity “Bosco Fontana” – Carabinieri (CNBF), which has offices and laboratories inside the Reserve. The main focus of the research activities carried out by CNBF are: ecology and monitoring of saproxylic insects, forest dynamics and deadwood management. In recent years many projects have been conducted in collaboration with the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis (CREA).

The field trip will last 2.5 hours, during which the participants will be able to visit 5 “speaker corners”, distributed throughout the Reserve. Here, the scientific staff will present the following topics:

Introduction to the Reserve and its management;
The role of deadwood and the saproxylic organisms;
Biodiversity and protected species;
Monitoring and citizen science;
Historical and artistic overview (visit to the Gonzaga hunting castle)

Two groups of maximum 100 participants each will be transported by bus from the city of Mantova to the Reserve.
The participation fee is 25€ and includes the guided tour and the round trip from Mantova city.

Subscribe at the Forum: www.wfuf2018.com/en-ww/pre-registration.aspx