Silviculture and Cinegetics Review - Societatea Progresul Silvic

FORESTRY BELTS SILVICULTURE AND CINEGETICS REVIEW XVII/30/2012
Technical solutions to set up networks of forest shelterbelts for farmland
protection in the Plain and the Dobrogea Plateau
Cornel Costăchescu, Florin Dănescu, Marian Ianculescu, Elena Mihăilă, Dan Niţu
1. Introduction
As signatory of “Convention for Desertification
Combat” from 1994, Romania should contribute to
achieving its main objective of “combating
desertification and mitigating the effects of drought in
countries with serious problems of drought and/or
desertification through efficient actions at all levels, in
order to contribute to achieving sustainable
development in the affected areas”.
Romania is part of the 110 countries around the globe
where there are potential affected areas by
desertification, as a result of frequent long-lasting and
severe droughtness periods, mainly due to the
imbalanced climatic characteristics, as well as severe
reduction of the area covered with forest vegetation in
the plains and low hilly regions.
It is estimated that desertification, droughtness and
aridity have a temporary and spatial determination,
being mainly caused by the climatic variations and
human activity. As a result, desertification or longlasting
severe droughtness are accompanied by land,
soil, vegetation and hydrological resources
degradation processes, even in the dry sub-humid
areas.
The forest crops and the forest shelterbelts, as
defensive methods against climatic specific
adversities, as soil protection methods against erosion
and landslides, as protection methods of socioeconomical
objectives and communication ways were
and are presently monitored by all agricultural
developed countries where the crops, the soil and the
dwellings suffer more or less of the harmful winds
influence, droughtness and surface erosion
(Ianculescu, 2005, 2007, 2008).
Forest shelterbelts are forest vegetation structures, of
different lengths and relatively narrow widths, located
at a certain distance from each other or against a
certain objective, aiming to protect against the effects
of harmful factors, whose effects are manifested more
intensely in terms of their integration into a much
extended network.
Are generally known the beneficial influences of those
forest shelterbelts on crops and agricultural and
zootechny production, on soil and water, useful fauna,
people’s health and human settlements, in brief on
environment in the areas where they are installed.
In summary, the main ecological, social and
economical effects of forest shelterbelts establishment
consist of (Lupe, 1952, 1953; Popescu, 1954;
Costăchescu et al., 2005):
- improving the microclimatic conditions modifying
the albedo, decreasing the air diurnal amplitude
temperature by 1-4 0C and the annual one by 1-2 0C,
decreasing the wind speed by 31-55% in the sheltered
side and by 10-15% in the exposed side, reducing the
unproductive evapo-transpiration by up to 30%,
increasing the air humidity at the soil surface by 3-
5%;
- improving growth and development conditions of
agricultural adjacent crops to a distance of 20-30
times of the shelterbelt height at the leeward
(sheltered) and by 5-12 times of the shelterbelt height
in the wind one (exposed);
- improving the fertility conditions and the soil
conservation, reducing erosion and slopes runoff up to
total stopping, increasing soil moisture, enriching the
soil content in humus and other nutrients, and
modifying the soil pH due to the organic matter
excess produced by leaves and roots;
-increasing the wood biomass and accessory products;
- increasing the areas covered with forest vegetation;
-protecting socio-economical objectives and
communication ways;
-creating favourable conditions for the local fauna
development;
- increasing the regional biodiversity;
- improving carbon stock;
- reconstruction and improvement of the landscape.
Therefore, the achievement of the forest shelterbelts
networks has consequences not only for protecting
and preserving environmental conditions, but also for
increasing agricultural productions, or at least,
maintaining them at a relatively constant level even
under significant fluctuating climatic conditions.
The necessity of forest shelterbelts has been revealed
since 1860 by Ion Ionescu de la Brad, who achieved
the first “wind overshadowing plantations” during
1870-1872.