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Fire danger rating systems are essential tools for fire management activities, allowing optimal allocation of resources both before and during the fire danger periods. Veneto Region's Forest Service is testing the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System to assess fire intensity, accounting for the effect of wind and the moisture content of inflammable material. The following steps were taken to apply the FWI system: (a) selection of the smallest number (ideally 10 - 15) of weather stations to obtain input data. Principal Components Analysis was carried out on 62 time-series of 30 years (1960-1990), including mean monthly temperature (minimum and maximum) and rainfall. The results highlighted two principal directions of climatic variability that were interpolated by the co-kriging method, allowing to delineate 11 relatively homogeneous areas in the Veneto Region. One station representative of each area was chosen to provide daily data for computing the daily fire danger index by the Regional Rating Service; (b) automation of the FWI system. A SAS v.9.1® application runs the calculations and generates a regional map of daily fire danger for the Forest Service personnel. Graphics and tabular data are also available via intranet.

Regeneration structures and spatial patterns of European larch (Larix decidua Miller), Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), were analyzed in three high elevation LTER area in the Dolomites (North-Eastern Alps). Larch and spruce regeneration is mainly affected by dense forest cover and grasses competition whereas stone pine is mostly sensitive to late snow melting, fungal diseases and wild ungulate damages. The current stand and regeneration structure suggests that larch has been highly fostered in the past due to silvo-pastoral management practices. All species show a clear tendency to spatial intraspecific aggregation especially at short-distances. The spatial patterns of larch regeneration are more complex than the other two species, more heavily affected by a main factor such as the nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes L.) seed dispersal for stone pine or presence of canopy gaps for spruce. However, spatial patterns of all species depend on the number of the available microsites, that often match at small distance driving the formation of small mixed and unevenaged patches. Combining the age structure and spatial pattern information we were able to better understand the small-scale patterns and processes and the role of the past disturbances on the regeneration dynamics in space and time.