Agro-forest landscape dynamics during the last 50 years. The case study of two North-Western Italian Parks

We studied the consequences of land management on two regional Parks in the north east Piedmont (north west Italy) high plan (280 – 320 m a.s.l). The study sites are the “Riserva Naturale Orientata delle Baragge” and the “Lagoni di Mercurago” Park. We analyzed historical aerial photographs (1954-2000) and we produced 4 land use maps (2 sites, 2 years). We studied the landscape structure changes computing landscape metrics for each map. After 50 years at the “Baragge” site the newly forested area covered 44% of the total surface of the Reserve; while at “Lagoni” Park only 7% of the total area is interested by natural afforestation. The study shows how different social-economic environment can influence the dynamics of an agro-forest landscape and underlines the problems of a passive conservation approach on a landscape point of view.