Marteloscope Colle/Kohlern
Project duration
2026 - ongoing
Project overview
What is a Marteloscope
Planning forest management interventions requires specific expertise and a deep knowledge of the ecosystem, as well as forecasting skills to assess how the forest will evolve after harvesting. In the province of Bolzano, as in other Alpine regions, trees are felled only after being designated through the so-called martellata, from which the term marteloscope derives: an area designated within a forest stand for training and simulating silvicultural interventions.
Marteloscopes are permanent areas, generally about 1 hectare in size, found throughout Europe, where students and forestry professionals practice selecting trees to be felled or retained according to management objectives. Each tree is numbered, measured, georeferenced, and assessed from both ecological and economic perspectives. Simulations, supported by software on tablets or smartphones, allow immediate verification of results against management and conservation goals, as well as in terms of economic return. These areas are also outreach tools used to raise awareness about biodiversity conservation and the role of forest management in mitigating climate change.
The Integrate network of European marteloscopes
The first European marteloscopes were introduced in the 1990s, and today the European Integrate Network, coordinated by the European Forest Institute (EFI), promotes common criteria for establishing new areas: a surface area of about one hectare, preferably square and oriented north-south, representativeness of local forests, structural stability for at least 5–10 years, safety, and accessibility. EFI manages the European database and provides guidelines for adding new areas to the network, as well as converting the collected data into the format required by the I+ Trainer software.
The marteloscope of the Colle di Bolzano
In South Tyrol, Eurac Research’s Institute for the Alpine Environment, in collaboration with the Forest Planning Office of the Forestry Department, identified an area of about 0.7 hectares in the Colle di Bolzano locality, which is easily accessible from the city of Bolzano/Bozen by cable car and representative of local mountain forests. The area, owned by the Municipality of Bolzano, has been granted for use for ten years.
The stand is mixed, with Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) predominating, but beech, larch, silver fir, birch, and chestnut are also present. The basal area is 44.5 m²/ha, with a mean height of 21.5 m and a dominant height of about 30 m. The forest type is the silicatic spruce-fir-beech forest with Vaccinium myrtillus (FTB4), typical of the shaded slopes of the lower Adige Valley. At Eurac Research, we completed the characterization of the stand: for each tree, species, diameter, height, crown base height, and the presence of dendromicrohabitats (e.g., cavities, epiphytic structures, outgrowths) were recorded, which are useful for calculating the Potential Biodiversity Index, an indicator that is becoming increasingly relevant for sustainable forest management. A qualitative evaluation of the stem quality and and economic assessment has also been completed.
Here you can download the InfoSheet of the Marteloscope Colle di Bolzano with additional information about the characteristics of the forest.
The Colle/Kohlern marteloscope has been used as a demonstration area for forest education activities, with workshops for secondary school and university students focused on inventory data collection methodologies and microhabitat identification. The area is planned to be used as an open-air classroom for silvicultural simulations, research, and permanent monitoring. Eurac Research installed microclimatic sensors and dendrometers for real-time measurement of species growth, as well as testing new forest data acquisition technologies by comparing them with traditional methods.
Funding
The project is run under internal funding of Eurac Research.
Project team
- Marco Mina Eurac Research - Project manager
- Sebastian Marzini Eurac Research
- Luca Colzi Eurac Research
- Tamara Bibbó Eurac Research
The area is managed in cooperation with the Forest Planning Office of the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol. The surface is property of the Municipality of Bolzano/Bozen.
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