It is a landscape that surprises in the middle of the forest. Several hundred downy oak plants, a tree very present in the Mediterranean area, surrounded by a sort of large black sock. “It’s their protective sheath, which I remove as soon as I come to check them”, explains Thibaud Roy, technician from the National Forestry Office of Nord Franche-Comté. This general control takes place once a year, since the planting of these trees in early 2019. It is there that the department launched, in partnership with the ONF and the association of forest municipalities, the operation “Parcelles d ‘ future “, to try to strengthen the forests of the Territoire de Belfort against drought. Since, 22,000 trees from southern countries, like Atlas cedars, were planted, and eight out of ten survived.
It will only be our successors, or even the successors of our successors, who will be able to draw the conclusions from what we have done today.
“We see, for example, that this one is already more than a meter long when it has only three growing seasons”, describes Thibaud Roy, while feeling one of the plants with his fingertips. “Its buds are also very green and well formed. We still have about a month and a half to last, avoiding frost problems”, he explains. Because the last days have proven it again: new plants must adapt to two climates at the same time. “We are still in a climate of the past, with severe winter frosts, and we are almost already in a climate of the future, hotter and drier in summer”, explains Thomas Demoly, works support manager at the ONF Nord Franche-Comté. “So we have to find species that are suitable!”
– Bastien Munch
“It’s a form of interventionism”, he admits. “But in my opinion, it does not harm nature, quite the contrary. On its own, nature will not be strong enough to anticipate and anticipate the evolution of the climate that awaits us. Afterwards, we are not sure it works … “ Especially that it is still too early to draw any initial conclusions, despite the apparent success of these plantations. “This is already a positive point, but it is not everything”, continue Thomas Demoly. “The goal is not to verify that the plants will survive for one, two or three years. We really want to end up with a stand that is viable throughout its lifespan, that is to say a minimum of 60 or 80 years. So it will be only our successors, even the successors of our successors, who will be able to draw the conclusions from what we have done today. “
The Territoire de Belfort, a pioneer of this experiment
The association of forest municipalities of the Territoire de Belfort is following the file closely, because forest regeneration is essential to them. “We really need to take care of our forests”, explains Rachel Couvreux, the president of the association. “Unfortunately, at the moment, some municipalities are no longer able to regenerate the forest properly, due to lack of resources. For example, here in Essert, for half a hectare, it costs between 5,000 and 6,000 euros to replant … “ For his part, the Territoire de Belfort department has already invested 50,000 euros in this operation, the same amount should be released over the next two years. “We were the first department to launch this experiment”, says Florian Bouquet, president of the departmental council. “Several other organizations and communities contacted us to find out about the species we had used and the planting procedure.”
About twenty other municipalities have already expressed their desire to welcome a “plot of the future” into their forest. A second experiment should therefore be launched in the coming months.
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