DOLOMITES - Annexes 2-8 - Provincia di Udine

NOMINATION OF THE DOLOMITES FOR INSCRIPTION ON THE WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE LIST UNESCO
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Today, it is not infrequent to find authentic plant treasures in the most undamaged valleys less influenced
by tourist activity, namely archeophytes related to cereal cultivation. These rare species are
contrasted against the banal species of the irrigation consortia, more and more widespread on the valley
floor where the land surface is not directly occupied by artisanal and industrial set lements. These
unploughed areas and the clearings, especially in proximity of the larger rivers, give a home to an
increasing number of exotic species from other continents, and especially from North America. The
number of non-indigenous species might be considered a valid ecological indicator and in any case,
an important parameter to defining the degree of alteration or degradation of a territory. Many rare
species have become endangered. This is especially true of the species that grow in humid biotopes,
which are subject to land reclamation, drainage, channelling and, unfortunately, general eutrophication
(an increase in nitrogen and nutrients) whose effects involve the entire planet. Special mention
should be made of the innermost valleys where the climate is continental (endoalpine) or the stations
where topographical factors increase summer dryness. This is the only area where several steppe relics
survive which in the Dolomite region represent an exceptional rarity (the needle grass or Stipa capillata,
Dracocephalum, Ephedra helvetica, ect.).
Sub-Alpine prairies (Sesleria) under the Tre Cime di Lavaredo/Drei Zinnen
The recent trend to abandon farming and agriculture, especially in the mountains, is showing clear
effects, perceptible even by non-experts whose remembrance of the places reaches back some twenty
or thirty years. Among these: – the rise of the wood edge, due to the increased average temperatures
caused by global warming; – the increase in woody coverage generated by a decrease in ploughing
and/or retraction of the pasture; – the spread of dominant and physiognomic species which have
been able to take advantage of the crop abandonment (especially graminaceous plants: Molinia,