Regional/sub-national

The Travaglini Company has been active since 1976, when it managed to buy 36 hectares of forest. Over the years, thanks to a correct organization of work, attention to efficiency and quality and a correct use of public funding, she managed to "live with the resources of the forest", giving work to family members as well as seasonal workers. This example demonstrates how it is possible to create efficiency and innovation also in our sector and with our woods. What made the experience of this company great is certainly the mentality and passion with which work and investments have been faced over the years. Having always focused on the efficiency of the company organization and on the quality of the products has given the solid foundation to the company, which thanks to the push towards innovation, of process and product, has made a leap more. The Travaglini family company demonstrates every day how it is possible to work thanks to the forest also in the Apennines, using wood and renewable energy. The first investment was the construction of a large one agricultural storage with innovative features, to be able to work even on bad weather days. Under this structure there is a very well organized line for the production of 4 different types of poles. Subsequently, the company aimed to enhance its production waste, by installing one of the first district heating networks in Tuscany that serves 8 homes. Later the company also focused on the sale of part of the waste as a biofuel. Realizing that many families in the area preferred pellets rather than wood or wood chips, the Travaglini family created a new type of wood chips, called cippatino, capable of replacing pellets. This product, sold in 15 kg bags, costs less than pellets, and therefore is required by customers, but much more than wood and chips, bringing great added value to the company.

Venturini was founded in 1985 as an agricultural company, to then devote itself to forestry work since 1997. With the entry of Michele, the owner's son, the forestry activity took over and traditional work systems led to employment of more modern machines, with large investments. The transformation from a traditional forest company to a modern enterprise has been realized thanks to the Region Tuscany Rural Development Plan 2007-13, which has allowed Venturini Biomasse to completely renovate the machinery and reorganize itself, becoming a reference in the territory for the supply of wood chips.

Venturini Biomasse is a beautiful example of a family-run company that, over the years, has been able to expand, renew and improve. Michele's entry into the family business also marked the change of pace at the business level. It is in fact thanks to his foresight that it has been possible to access public funding with the PRS 2007-2013, by exploiting them productively on the basis of clear, concrete objectives and above all calibrated to company dimensions.

Through the purchased equipment
the company has achieved important goals.
First, working conditions have improved. New technologies have also made it possible to optimize logistics. A strategy of diversification and, above all, of production qualification, has allowed the company to start operating outside the local market, obtaining a positioning capable of guaranteeing better sales conditions and therefore greater profitability. The company is healthy today, with good development prospects, and aims to grow further. There is no shortage of design ideas for the future, such as the expansion of a covered structure to optimize the storage and handling of the chips produced, or the construction of a forced drying plant to speed up production cycles.

"FMMF Il Legno" identifies wood products derived from Montagne Fiorentine Model Forest boundaries. The brand can be used only by public and private forest owners and by the forestry companies that are members of the MFMF association who have signed a set of regulations about safety and sustainable cutting. It guarantees: the legality of the products supplied through compliance with international, national and regional laws regarding forestry, commerce and taxation; compliance with current safety regulations; the presence and respect of regular contracts for the buying and selling of the woods.

This project has tried to improve conditions of the companies (owners and users) of first transformation who work on the territory of FMMF, through a continuous training process that can improve the working conditions of the operators in the woods. It has tried to put together demand with offer by selling products (certified timber) that guarantees environmental, economic and social sustainability. The demand is often unwilling to use the forest due to a high fragmentation of the forest property with a marked prevalence of limited private property surfaces.

Types of products guaranteed: woody biomass for energy, firewood, wood chips, pellets, round wood, semi-finished products, wooden products.
The brand managers have carried out activities to promote the brand chain: participation in events; participation at meetings with trade associations or public bodies (Tuscany Region, CNA Borgo San Lorenzo, Gal START, etc.).
They supported the FMMF members drafting projects (PSR calls, GAL START calls, forestry PIF - integrated supply chain projects) and with documents in compliance with EUTR regulation 995/2010 (DUE DILIGENCE).
Project "Bosco Chiavi in ​​Mano" was designed to help owners manage their forests efficiently; professionals offer a service that simplifies forest management and facilitates transactions. 250 turned chestnut poles were sold, 650 q. of firewood, barrels, boards, 250 square meters of chestnut for the floor of the C.BIO shop in Florence and a Center dedicated to Chestnut at Castagno D’andrea was made with branded chestnut wood.

Forest Sharing (FS) aims to enhance the forest heritage through the creation of an innovative platform, able to facilitate the meeting between players in the forest sector, planning an ethical and sustainable forest management. This service is mainly proposed for abandoned or unmanaged ownships, re-launching integrated management in order to obtain an environmental and economic benefit, thanks to the use of innovative technological tools.

We made several public test in not “forest” conventional places, such as shopping center and exhibitions, and we met there forest owners that have decided to subscribe the application to enter in FS.
These tests were important to validate the service and the idea behind FS. It is necessary to organize a system that allows managing multiple properties together, and reducing the time spent by the owner, for each step of the supply chain.

The first results underline how people are interest in this new approach, especially those that have a forest proprieties that at the moment are not-manage. FS have start to create a networking between all the different actors in forest sectors. Forest Sharing platform have networking different owners and more than 1000 hectares of forests are in connection. Thanks to FS now forest owners are associate and in the last month they apply for founding. Some of the proprieties and forest managers had benefit from the application of technologies tools implemented by FS. Through the social networks FS have obtained a wide interest of owners, forest technician and forest companies working in logging and no logging activities.

The coop. Eco-Energie was born from the Baglioni family farm. To survive in the italian firewood market, characterized by strong unfair competition, the owner decided to innovate their approach to forest works. After 5 years of study, he has decided to invest in a gradual but consistent manner in the production and sale of wood chips, diversifying at the same time the production also focusing on naturalistic engineering. From 2015 the company also directly manages a district heating system through a turnkey service, the so-called contracting.

Eco-Energie is characterized by a strong entrepreneurial spirit and propensity to risk. This is demonstrated by the huge investments in mechanization, training and the search for new solutions such as contracting activities.
This seems to pay off: diversifying end products derived from the wood normally used, increasing productivity through better organization, gradually investing in the use of advanced mechanization and focusing on the training of employees seem to be firm points from which many companies in the sector could start again.

The growth of Eco-Energie has been impressive: the company currently has more than 20 employees and continues to invest in new machines and equipment. They are numerous, the training activities of the employees (also in the field of security) and contracts increase, multi-year contracts for the supply of wood chips to existing plants.
However, management problems arise and organization related to spaces, to guarantee an even better product in less time.
Thus the need to acquire oneself has arisen a biomass platform: a logistic center covered where to sort the material, store and dry the wood and chips and sell the products also to the retail.
From this cooperative a new company (Etruria Energie - www.etruriaenergie.it) was born recently (2016), which offers a turnkey service for the installation of renewable energy plants, in particular from wood biomass, for public and private users.

The Forest Funds en Limousin is a regional structure that acts as an interface between forest owners and financial contributors. It manages financial flows and handles requests from forest owners requesting assistance.  This private initiative was initiated by Fransylva in Limousin (Limousin forest owners' syndicate).

By the end of 2017: 180 hectares of plantation have been validated by the Forest Fund in Limousin and 90 hectares are still under study.

In return for their financial investments through the Forest Fund in Limousin, companies and local authorities are awarded the "I love the Limousin forest, I support it" label, enabling them to communicate to their clients or employees about their interest in preserving the environment and fighting climate change. The sums paid by companies are tax deductible because the share is considered sponsorship. The forestry works eligible for aid are plantations or forest improvements. The minimum surface area of the forest sites must be 1 ha.

Adeli is an interprofessional association whose objective is to bring together neighbouring private owners in order to set up sufficient site units to trigger stand improvement operations and equipment work (storage area, wood loading area). Adeli's technicians, partly financed by the region, help to define the appropriate silvicultural interventions, constitute grouping files and carry out site receptions. Thanks to this animation, the stands are put back into management with dynamic silviculture that will eventually produce quality wood.

Thanks to Adeli, the overheads and prospecting costs of economic operators are reduced. Cost implementation of volumes mobilized is 3-4 € m3 depending on the files.

To initiate a grouped site, it is necessary at least 3 owners, for a site surface of at least 8 ha (4h for hardwoods), within a radius of 2km. Owners and operators must commit to a sustainable management certification system and pay membership fees: €25/year and €250/year respectively.
Once the grouping is completed, aid is provided by the region for owners ranging from 200 € to 500 €/ha for stand improvement. For aid for the creation of equipment, the maximum aid before tax is € 6500.
The sites implemented by ADELI mobilize 650 ha of stands every year, 50% of which are deciduous for a wood volume of 45,000 to 50,000 m3.

The Caisse Phyto Forêt, a South-West France forest protection and provident fund, was created at the initiative of the South-West France Forestry Syndicate in 2013 to provide concrete phytosanitary solutions for the Landes de Gascogne massif. The purpose of this association (law 1901) is to act in matters of uninsurable phytosanitary risks. The Caisse Phyto Forêt is working on the development of a method to prevent the contamination of stumps and healthy trees by the fomes, a root fungus that causes significant damage to conifers by reducing the quality of the wood and causing mortality in stands.

Currently, the dosage of the blue dye recommended by the manufacturer does not allow, in certain cases, to sufficiently color the product and to verify the correct application of the product. It would be necessary to multiply by 3 or 4 the dose of dye necessary, meaning an additional cost for the operator and thus the forest owner.
Operators and contractors must undergo training to obtain a plant protection product certificate (CERTI-PHYTO).
It is now necessary to communicate more widely with the foresters of the massif in order to encourage them to treat the strains and stem the spread of contaminations.

In order to avoid contamination of the stands, the treatment against fomes is applied to each cut of wood (depressing, thinning, and clearcutting). The product to be used is a powder to be diluted in water containing spores and mycelia of a fungus endemic to the massif, the Phlebiopsis gigantea natural strain VRA-1835, with an antagonistic action to the development of the resinous fomes. The only one approved in France is the Rotstop, manufactured and sold by AROLE. As the mixture is colourless, a blue dye should be added to check the correct spray on the stumps.
Application must be made within 3 hours after cutting, either by manual painting or mechanical spraying by adapting systems at the harvester head: using a guide spraying the product through holes distributed along the guide, or with a nozzle that sprays the product in a single outlet. The solution is then spread over the stumps when the trees are cut.
Loggers need to equip their machines with one of two systems to automate processing.
Treatment can take place throughout the year and to be effective, 80% of stumps must be treated.

MOVAPRO is a program developed by the CNPF to create decision support tools for forest owners in order to mobilize "additional" wood from non-exploited resources). The challenge is to balance in the value chain while preserving sustainable forest management. To meet the growing needs of wood energy users, it is necessary to assess the potential for mobilising additional wood.
In 2014, the first site monitoring was carried out in Aquitaine and Normandy in order to identify the weak points of the wood energy harvesting sites and to know the operating costs and purchase prices of the wood.
The objective is then to evaluate and remove the obstacles to the mobilisation of wood energy.

It is possible to extend the CartoMovapro tool to other territories but it is necessary to have information on the status of the forest track.
Once finalized, the database will provide a landowner with more information to guide him in his silviculture choices and encourage him to harvest his wood and return his stands to production.

The 3 tools developed are:
• MOVAPRO Diagnosis: sheet to be completed in order to draw up an inventory of the site: infrastructures present, presence of regulatory and environmental zoning, assessment of wood quality,....
• CartoMovapro : GIS tool that identifies and analyses the difficulty or not in mobilising wood according to 5 criteria :
- the slope
- the presence of forest under sustainable management document
- constraints related to regulatory zoning
- obstacles such as ditches,...
- longshoring distance.
The results are in cartographic form, indicating levels of difficulty in mobilization.
• The database of work costs and wood prices: tool whose purpose is to collect and share data on wood purchase prices, reconstitution work costs, operating costs and to link them with the data provided in the MOVAPRO diagnosis. This database is currently being developed so that it can be used by all CRPF technicians at national level.