The publishing trade of the ARFD
Among the activities committed to the arfd of Sicily, the editorial production has taken a centrality function , representing the point of convergence of different areas of competence.
launched in the 1980s with the publication of the brochure: "The company forests and the conservation of nature in Sicily", is an innovation in the Public Administration’s background of the time, not very inclined to publish his activities; today it contains more than 120 editorial productions articulated in specific editorial lines.
The arfd has started the project of institutional communication right through the edition of books, deciding, on a hand, to fix and to spread on the other hand, the acquired knowledge in the interpretation and environmental analysis. The approach to the environment is a problem, still in embryo, whose echo, who touched the period between the half of the 1980s and our days, had not been clearly felt yet.
The editorial initiative, still in embryo, was interested, in different occasions, on publishing works, studies, or specific studies carried out on the subject that, even then, the Administration cured in virtue of a proactive policy addressed to the environment’s safeguarding.
The old traditional forestry activities totally devoted to afforestation had already left the place to new initiatives providing the preservation of nature. It is right in this context that new horizons are open for the arfd, with new prospects of development, who have remained in living memory, thanks to the different publications.
The old traditional forestry activities totally assigned to afforestation had already left the place to initiatives of a wider concept of providing preservation of nature. It is in this context that new horizons open up for the arfd, new prospects for development of which living memory has remained, in fact, throughout different publications.

The old traditional forestry activities totally assigned to afforestation had already left the place to initiatives of a wider concept of providing preservation of nature. It is in this context that new horizons open up for the arfd, new prospects for development of which living memory has remained, in fact, throughout different publications. Today the general interest on the subject of nature has became a real attitude among people, in fact, a publishing for the spread of environmental issues has developed in all sectors , aiming both at school education and awareness of territory and at the respect of nature. It is in this context that the arfd has set up an organized body made of a magazine called "Sicily forests", formed by a responsible Director and by a technical committee that evaluates the scientific articles published and by an editorial line called "Necklace Sicily forests" that care studies diffusion, researches, monographic works, scientific conference, acts, seminars, round tables. An editorial sector was devoted to a great spreading as guides, charts for the use of protected areas, descriptive and informative brochures, monographs, Edition school.
In recent years several documentaries has also been made to enrich and diversify the divulging. This work is not only paper production or video, but it includes even the organization of events, environmental education activities carried out especially within natural reserves, events, active participation in public demonstrations.

"Sicily forests"
Over the last ten years, arfd’s competences and intervention’s areas, have grown exponentially and the editorial activity assigned to satisfy new requirements, is increased too. Those activities have enriched arfd year by year, both the contents and the variety of topics, even from the graphic’s point of view, thanks to the always more fascinating productions.
In 1993 the arfd has published a quarterly forest information Review called "Sicily forests", aiming at a wide public, beyond the "experts at work", consisting of index books dedicated to studies divulgation at application and to articles of more general interest concerning in a special way administration’s activity on the territory.
Beyond the edition of traditional numbers there is also the editing of special numbers dedicated to particular aspects or topics, who centralize, in a certain period, the arfd’s activities or interests. divulgation of scientific subjects, results of investigations, and application studies about forestry and environment, had remained precluded to the users , as it was the exclusive special sector of the press. The ever more close collaboration with university world and with research in general, the proliferation of cooperation between the arfd and researchers in order to operate the synergism between pure research, applied research and applications on the subject, have made so urgent the spread and divulgations of such cooperation’s results. So, in 1996 necklace Sicily forests was born, that is an editorial line who has meet with success, thanks to the publication of influential contributions.