All begins with a rain of needles

(2024 - on going)

"All begins with a rain of needles" is a visual story that aims to tell how the communities of Trentino - Alto Adige, Veneto and Friuli - Venezia Giulia are suffering and trying to react to the ongoing spruce bark beetle epidemic.

Starting from the final death of a spruce tree due to bark beetle, such as the fall of needles, on one hand the project narrates the effort made by researchers, forest keepers and lumberjacks to try to contain the damage and solve this issue, and on the other hand, the situations that local communities are facing and the emotions they are experiencing.

From the end of 2018, spruce bark beetle has started to spread in the Italian Alps, killing millions of trees and starting a deep economic and environmental crisis that is still ongoing, because the only solution for an affected plant is to be cut and sold at low prices. But not only, because this parasite has also caused the disappearance of a landscape commonly recognized as “alpine" and it has led to the death of forests that for some families represented a precious heritage. It is exposing many inhabitants to the perennial risk of seeing their pasture or their hut swept away by an avalanche, a flood, or a landslide because the land, without trees, can no longer stand. It is also causing psychological and emotional damage to local populations because for many of them become too difficult and painful to go to the places where they were born and raised and that they no longer recognize.

In addition to what has already happened, there are several future risks to which the inhabitants of the most affected communities could be exposed, such as the possibility of seeing a drastically reduced number of tourists due to the degradation of the landscape, or the risk of having to give up some important and ancient  traditions.

In this difficult and not at all positive scenario, there are also many efforts being made to try to solve, or at least contain this issue. Scientists and lumberjacks are making numerous attempts to eradicate the parasite, while forest keepers play a key role in monitoring the situation and assisting local communities.

Although it is estimated that the recovery phase of the most affected territories will begin in just thirty years, some rare positive effects are already beginning to be discerned. As the fact that some deforested areas, formerly used as pastures, are returning to be such.