International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings - Montana State University Library

Item: Sustainability of small ski resorts and ski slope management under climate change in South Tyrol

• • Title: Sustainability of small ski resorts and ski slope management under climate change in South Tyrol

    Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2018, Innsbruck, Austria

    Authors:

    • Sara Casagrande Bacchiocchi  [ Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy ]
    • Camilla Wellstein  [ Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy ]
    • Martha Gärber  [ Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy ]
    • Lohengrin Cavieres  [ Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile ]
    • Susanne Elsen  [ Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy ]
    • Stefan Zerbe  [ Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy ]

    Date: 2018-10-07

    Abstract: Tourism is one of the leading economic sectors in South Tyrol, N Italy. Due to climate change in the European Alpine environment where a lack of snow during winter is becoming more frequent, ski pistes are increasingly created with artificial snow. Besides the 4 large regional ski resorts in South Tyrol, 38 small local ski resorts are present. These small ski areas rely on natural snow availability, and their ski season is usually concentrated between two and three months. Our research addressed two main questions: 1) What is the impact of different management practices (i.e. artificial snow vs. natural snow) on the vegetation of ski slopes? 2) How do small ski resorts in South Tyrol contribute to eco-social sustainability? To assess the impact of different ski-management practices and of different snow cover durations on soil properties and on grassland vegetation, snow and soil samples as well as vegetation sampling were taken from 10 ski slopes on a medium-large ski resort (M) and from three small ski resorts (S) in South Tyrol, Italy. To assess our second question, data from all small ski resorts were collected and operators of these local ski resorts were interviewed to understand the role of local ski resorts in contributing to the sociocultural activity of the local community.

    Object ID: ISSW2018_P05.11.pdf

    Language of Article: English

    Presenter(s):

    Keywords: artificial snow, technical snow, snow cover, plant functional groups.

    Page Number(s): 471-473

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