 The territory of the SCI is almost entirely covered by beech forests, some of which are managed according to a Forest Management Plan, as in the case of the forests owned by municipalities of Rotonda, Chiaromonte, San Severino Lucano, Terranova di Pollino and Viggianello side of the park in Basilicata. Among these, it has to be noted the presence of an important area with Vetusto Beech, located along the ridge from Coppola di Paola to Cozzo Ferriero in the countryside of Rotonda (PZ) near the watershed that marks the border between Calabria and Basilicata, and which extends over 50 hectares and with numerous specimens of about 300-350 years of age, in which the absence of significant impacts of human activities for a long period has allowed the natural dynamics, giving rise to cenosis structurally complex and rich in biodiversity.
The mixed forests of fir-beech are also important. Today, they are relict formations, once they were much more widespread over the whole Apennines. The larger formations of this type are located in the town of Terranova di Pollino and San Severino Lucano where species of considerable size can be seen. The silver fir, which surely has experienced over time a reduction of its range due to local preferential cutting compared to beech given the technological characteristics of the wood, is present mainly in the north-eastern slope of the Pollino massif and more precisely under the Serra di Crispo (2053 m asl) in the districts of Fagosa, Cugno dell'Acero Cugno Ruggero, Cugno Cumone, Acqua Tremula, Piana di S. Francesco and Bosco Iannace. Smaller groups are in Monte Caramola and on the western slope of the Serra del Prete, as well as along the creek Frido under the Timpone Canocchiello (1885 m asl). Worthy of note is the contact between the silver fir and pine loricato (Pinus leucodermis) under the Serra di Crispo, the only example in Italy of mixed mountain forest of beech, fir and Bosnian pine. |
 The SCI includes two priority habitats, the 9220 Apennine beech forests with Abies alba and beech forests with Abies nebrodensis and 6210 Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia). The fauna include the presence of the wolf that uses these forests as places of rendezvous. Equally important is the presence of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis), the spectacled salamander (salamander terdigitata), and the Ululone from the Apennines (Bombina pachypus). |
