Nature and Forest Management

In the last years there has been a growing attention towards the need for a more “natural” approach in forest management. The call for a close to nature forest management is certainly not new. The aim of this review is to analyze how the concept of “nature” has evolved in forest management and discuss if “naturalness” is still a viable reference for managing forests ecosystems considering the multiple values which are today attributed to forests. Over a century ago foresters turned to “virgin forests” as inspiration for modeling silviculture. This approach refers to the classic paradigm in ecology, which for a long time was the “balance of nature paradigm”. More recently “disturbance ecology” has recognized the role of natural disturbances in determining the structure, biodiversity and functioning of forest ecosystems, and has inspired forest management approaches based on the natural disturbance regime. The search for a “natural” reference model underlies the belief that through management it is possible to forecast with sufficient accuracy the reaction of the ecosystem and thus bring it to a composition, structure and functioning considered more natural. Both these approaches are based on a deterministic and anthropocentric view of nature, which today is by many considered unable to capture the complexity and unpredictability of forest ecosystems in a changing world. A truly “close to nature” management should instead consider human action as part of the system, recognizing the needs of society, but without forcing the forest in a predefined model, considered more “natural” and aimed at providing specific products or “services”. In this sense a systemic, adaptive management approach, coherent with a forest ethic, is needed.