Wood Recovery Project Starpool

We celebrate our 50 years with a project for the environment

At the end of October 2018, Storm Vaia, an extreme weather event, hit the Italian North-East with high winds and persistent rain that particularly impacted the mountain area of the Dolomites and the Venetian Prealps. The sirocco wind, blowing between 100 and 200 km/h for several hours, fell 14 million trees and destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of alpine coniferous forest. The storm wrought unprecedented havoc that had very serious consequences. This event, along with extraordinary weather, led to a serious bark-beetle pest, which contributed to damage the forest ecosystem further, thus compromising its biodiversity. Restoring balance in the Dolomites forest environment will be a long and difficult process. It will take years before nature finds its balance again, and we see majestic pines, larches and firs once more. We at Starpool were deeply struck by this event and became aware of the importance of actively contributing to the recovery of this ravaged area. Territory is in fact a pillar in our value system, together with people and innovation. Our strong connection to it fostered our greater and greater awareness in terms of environmental impact.

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This is the reason why we want to give back to nature what it offers us every day for the creation of our products.In 2025, the year of our 50th anniversary, we launched Wood Recovery Project, developed in collaboration with the forestry technicians of Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme. A f ive-year project dedicated to the protection of the woods in the Fiemme Valley, where our company is located, with special attention to the Canzenagol biotope, a 16-hectare area protected by the European Union, as it hosts a peat bog that is home to rare marsh species, amphibians and reptiles that can be found only there. Over the next few years we’ll start a series of initiatives to preserve and improve the “ecosystem services” – that is, all the benefits that the forest naturally offers us, contributing to the regeneration of the environment with tangible actions to favour forest recovery.

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The first phase of the project involvesthe recovery and partial removal of  desiccated plants, in an operation of woods clearing ; at the same time, some plants will be released with the aim to protect the ecological balance of the peat bog. Together with swamps, lakes and marshes, peat bogs make up the so-called wetlands. They represent a fundamental resource as they house great biodiversity, purify water of pollutants making it drinkable, and trap a large amount of environmental carbon, thus fighting climate change. The removal of dead plants is not only a maintenance operation, but a fundamental action to ensure tourist safety in this area. This first operation will pave the way for the reforestation of the surrounding area, to restore the woods, protect the landscape, improve air quality and ensure carbon storage.

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Forests serve as carbon sequestration wells and can store atmospheric CO2 as carbon in vegetation and soil. For this is reason, they are at the core of international policies to face climate change both through mitigation and adaptation processes. To add even more value to the project, we chose to actively involve clients and stakeholders: for each sold sauna and for each guest welcomed at Casa Starpool and Casa Starpool Milan, we will plant a new tree. We wanted to make our guests part of this initiative because we have this project especially at heart. Sharing Wood Recovery Project with our clients and with the entire Starpool community means spreading awareness and commitment, turning every piece of contribution into a tangible action in favour of the environment.

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The territory needs attention and constant care, as well as targeted actions, to fight what is starting to look more and more like an environmental emergency. Special events will be organised to make local communities and tourists  aware of the importance of forest protection. Once cleared and restored, the area will make the object of operations of active preservation. These initiatives aim to promote environmental respect. The planned activities include: the selective containment of the most vigorous spruce trees to prevent or slow down the draining of the wet area, as well as the development of a controlled tourist circuit in order to enable the respectful and sustainable use of the peat bog. The community will be informed about the project progress, aiming to turn this initiative in an operation of environmental protection and a virtuous model of responsible tourism to safeguard landscape and biodiversity. At the end of the project, permanent info boards will be installed in the biotope area. They will describe the work done and encourage visitors to become conscious keepers of this precious ecosystem.