Florence too, managed to prevent the deforestation of the summit of her mountains until the beginning of the eighteenth century, and in other republics, kingdoms and duchies, similar efforts at forest administration existed. Yet Genoa, which in Strabo’s time was the principal timber market of Italy, had by 1860 nearly all its mountain slopes denuded.
Before the general legislation for all Italy was enacted there were at least a dozen laws in operation in the various provinces; in Lombardy, the law of 1811; in Naples, the law of 1826; in Rome, of 1827; in Umbria, of 1805; in Bologna, of 1829; in Tuscany, of 1829; in Piedmont, of 1833; in Sardinia, of 1851; etc. If these had been heeded much better conditions would have been inherited by the new kingdom.
With the arrival of a national spirit, many schemes for the promotion of forestry and of forest policy were discussed. The academies of Florence, Milan, Modena, Palermo, and Pesaro offered premiums for reforesting of mountains, and called for popular treatises on silviculture. A forestry journal came into being, furthering the propaganda. In 1860 a very well written account of “Present Conditions of Forestry and Production of Sulphur in Sicily,” a collection of reports, was published by Shiro. In 1860 also, an investigation of forest conditions in each province was ordered by royal decree, and propositions for their improvement were called for, which led to legislative proposals, introduced in 1862, and legislation enacted in 1863.
The law of 1863 still treated each province independently: forest inspectors for each province, and for Naples an Inspector General, with district foresters and a large number of forest guards were appointed.
Another law, applicable only to certain parts of the Kingdom, was enacted in 1874, intended to check the progress of deforestation and prevent turning waste woodlands into pasture; these absolute forest soils were to be reforested within five years. The law remained a dead letter, yet it is still in force in part, with modifications enacted in 1886.
The final unification of the country as far as legislative unity is concerned, was completed in 1877, and in that year the first general forest law for all Italy was also enacted.
This law, which has mainly in view the protective influence of forest cover as a factor in the public welfare, leaving all private property not falling under the character of protection forest entirely free, established provincial forest commissions—conservation boards—unpaid, who were to enact rules and regulations best adapted to their localities. The Board of Commissioners consisted of the prefect of the province, ex-officio president; an inspector of forests, the technical officer who administers the government property; an engineer appointed by the governor; and three members chosen by the provincial council; in addition, each communal council was to send one member to take part in the deliberations of the board as far as his particular commune was interested.
By this law the country is divided into two sections vertically, namely the territory above the limit of chestnut, and that below this limit, the latter representing the farming country, the territory above being unfit for agricultural use. To the former the restrictions of the law apply as a rule (terreni soggetti al vincolo forestale—ban forest), to the latter, as exception, namely where the removal of forest or brush cover might cause landslides, or affect stream flow or health conditions unfavorably. The chestnut limit naturally varies in different parts, but, generally speaking, lies between 1,800 and 2,000 feet elevation. The determination of these areas was to be made by the provincial forest committees, and it is significant to note that in these the State forest administration did not have the majority.
The territory under restriction, was in 1887, after various revisions, established as comprising 7.5 million acres of forest and 2.5 million acres of brush and waste, nearly 71% of the forest area being thus placed under restriction; leaving 2.5 million acres of forest and over 2 million of brush and waste outside the working of the law; these latter areas are left entirely without restrictions, except as general police regulations apply. The execution of the law and regulations is left to the State Forest Department with an organization of forest guards (some 3,000 in 1883), appointed by the prefect of the province with the advice of the forestry commission, but acting under the State forest administration. Their pay was to come to the extent of two-thirds from the communes, the other third from the provincial treasurer.
In the forests placed under the law, clearing and agricultural use is forbidden. Fellings and cultures must be made under direction of the Committee. No compensation is made for this limitation in use except where hygienic influence was the basis for placing the forest under ban.