The sustainable management of forest resources in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region has been taking place for decades through an extensive planning activity, which involves the main forest areas of public ownership (regional, municipal or Bodies and Consortia forests) and also the most significant among those of private property. Below are some data obtained from the archive of forest management plans updated to 2007. The regional area involved in the forest planning process covers 173,500 ha, managed through 103 forest management plans, for a net wooded area of 119,500 has. In terms of the total planned area, 96.5% belongs to public entities while only the remaining 3.5% involves private properties (neighborhood consortia, forestry consortia, agro-forestry companies). The mass of wood present in the planned forests is equal to 20,400 ,000 m3 with an annual growth of 365,000 m3. The usable annual wood mass, i.e. provided for by the cutting plans of all existing management plans, is equal to 140,000 m3. The average surface area of a wooded parcel is equal to 24.43 ha with a wood mass of 149 m3/ha and an annual increase of 3.05 m3/ha (if the particle has a mainly productive function, the surface is 19.58 ha with 208 m3/ha and an annual increase of 4.36 m3/ha). Forest planning, through the knowledge of the salient features of the forest heritage and of the environments in which it grows, identifies the actions and times needed to implement correct management of the forests and therefore guarantee the supply of goods and services in the best possible way, both for individual owner and for the entire community: timber production, hydrogeological conservation and direct protection of settlements and infrastructures, picking of berries and mushrooms, recreation and tourism, guaranteeing valuable landscapes, air and water purification, absorption of carbon dioxide, a guarantee of habitat for numerous animal and plant species, the possibility of hunting, a place for teaching and scientific research, etc.
