Over the first year of the project, foresters, biologists, pedologists, geologists, botanists, zoologists and environmental engineers will assess the environmental conditions of the sites. This effort is of primary importance to define the ecological status quo of the two project areas and, thus, to allow evaluating the ecosystem responses to the restoration and conservation actions carried out by the project.  

1. In detail, the preliminary actions are aimed at:

- defining the geo-morphological and hydrologic characteristics of the project areas through detailed topographic surveying and mapping (Action A2);

- quantifying the factors that have triggered the ecosystems’ decline, in particular those related to the soil characteristics (Action A3), and meteo-climatic phenomenon (Action A4) through data collection and analysis;

- defining the current conservation status and the ecological dynamics of the forest ecosystem through field surveys and data processing (Action A5), as well as the vegetation and bio community composition in temporary ponds (A6), through field surveys and data processing. 

2. These actions will provide data and scientific information useful to better define and orient the restoration and conservation actions to:

- ensure the restoration of the forest ecosystem through a plantation of native trees' seedlings (Action C1), selective trimming and phytosanitary cutting of the diseased trees (Action C2), and ex-situ propagation of keystone plant species (Action C6);

- increase the resilience of the ecosystems by implementing innovative hydraulic engineering solutions (Action C3) and developing forest and water management practices (Action C4 and C5).

3. A set of monitoring actions will evaluate the success of the project interventions to:

- verify the effectiveness of the restoration actions targeting the flora and fauna species (Action D1 andD3);

- verify the effectiveness of the restoration actions targeting the habitats (Action D2 and D4);

- verify the effectiveness of the restoration activities targeting the chemical-physical conditions (Action D5);

- assessing the impact of the project actions on the socioeconomic conditions of the local communities (D6) and on the ecosystem services of the project areas (Action D7).