The objectives of For.Leave's were very challenging, it were not only a matter of developing and strengthening traditional forest production chains, but also of proposing alternative economic development models linked to the multifunctionality of the services offered by the forest by activating virtuous circles of sustainable resettlement of population and productive activities in the Pistoia Apennines. Starting from the analysis of the characteristics of the forest property, an area of over 3600 hectares was identified in the Municipalities of San Marcello-Piteglio and Abetone-Cutigliano considered representative for its environmental and socio-economic peculiarities.

The high fragmentation of ownership limits the options for proper forest management, jeopardizing the provision of ecosystem services associated with it and their economic enhancement, generating two main effects: logging as the only option of use for the most productive and accessible areas; the abandonment and degradation of less accessible and productive areas. 

There is therefore an opportunity to encourage the organisation of business networks and forms of association between the small owners of forest land, in order to stimulate the active and rational management of the forest. Two farms involved in the Operational Group testify to the different approach to the enhancement of the forest: Typical family business that is a direct farmer manages its forests with coppice to obtain firewood, while a company prefers forest management: both are united by the awareness that the forest and the existing rural spaces also represent an important source of diversification of farm incomes, especially in the beautiful but economically fragile context of the Apennines.