C O V E R
S T O R Y
Producing timber without hurry
At 52, Pierre is uncommonly fortunate:
he will be able to harvest the trees
planted more than twenty years ago at
the time of his first simple management plan.
"Then, I was lucky to meet an
official from the DDAF (French
Agriculture and Forestry department),
who became my mentor.
"With Bernard Tron, we studied the
topography and the soil, worked out a
planting programme and defined the
populations to be improved". Atlas
cedar covering 30 hectares was
selected as the dominant species and
planted close together.
"It grows well and withstands harsh
weather, and it provides good timber
that doesn't crack and resists
bending", he points out. It was to be
thinned for the first time this year but
will be put off until the lower branches
fall.
"Twenty years ago, we decided to
let nature take its course to save costs.
We are sticking to that and in twenty to
thirty years we will see if it was the right
decision. That's the strength of private
forests: among the wide range of
decisions made by foresters, there has
to be a relevant form of management".
The plantations were supplemented with Corsican pine (20%) and
sprinkled with a mixture of species:
Douglas fir, larch, thuja, sorbus, walnut
and chestnut. He is currently
converting 100 high up hectares of
coppices in deep soil into 100ha of
high quality. Another 100ha of
coppices with poor soils have been
devoted to heating wood, much
appreciated at these altitudes.
Within the
cedar
plantation,
spontaneous
generation of
oak, beech
and chestnut
From an article by Luc Léger,
in the influential French forestry magazine,
Forêts de France.
WOOD-MIZER TODAY AUTUMN 2011
19