The area of implementation of this project is the Transylvania region of Romania, as well as the adjacent areas of this region. The region covered by this study harbors the highest number of wood-pastures from Central and Eastern Europe as well as from Romania.
We decided to expand on this region for three main reasons: the first reason is that what we generically call “Transylvania” includes several biocultural sub-regions that may have characteristic wood-pastures that have not yet been explored. It allows us to make a representative inventory, based on a large number of wood-pastures. The second reason is that the short time of this project (2 years), combined with the diversity of activities (presented in the Work Packages section) does not allow us a national assessment of wood-pastures. The third reason is that the region approached is the one about which we have fairly solid preliminary knowledge as well as well-formed connections in some local communities. Against this background, we believe that the new ideas and approaches proposed in this project can be addressed and the objectives set can be achieved.
The present project targets the wood-pastures in the plain and hill area, where the deciduous forests dominate. The mountainous area, which is well represented in Romania and Transylvania, dominated by coniferous forests, was also ignored due to lack of resources to survey them. The materials produced and made available on this platform aim to inspire local and regional initiatives that were not covered by this project.