Communicating old-growth forest through an educational trail
This paper describes the experience of developing an educational trail inside an old-growth beech forest in central Italy. In the last 150 years local people exploited this stand almost exclusively for recreational purposes and now the beechwood has acquired new ecological value after having reached old-growth status. Despite the cultural-historical importance of the site, there is a substantial lack of knowledge about this magnificent stand among members of the public, who have no tools to understand its dynamics nor to accept those structural changes related to its natural evolution. Tourist facilities were restored at the site, according to non-restricting criteria, and an educational program was developed in order to promote a shared comprehension of old-growth forests, their ecological processes and value, the services they provide, and to increase tourist awareness toward this fragile ecosystem. We discuss the educational role ecotourism might potentially hold in western developed countries to link the public with the scientific world, educating people about nature, while preventing negative impacts on natural environments. Even if the importance of local communities in conservation of natural resources has been widely recognized by a number of conservationists, public involvement, particularly in forest conservation and management, still represents a difficult challenge, since it requires the implementation of a common understanding about forest ecosystems, forest goods and forest services. The educational trail inside the beech forest of Monte Cimino may represent a low impact strategy for preserving forest aesthetic functionality, limiting potential damages to the forest while increasing its importance for nature conservation.