In the middle of the Lorraine forests, these small enclosures have appeared in recent years, protected by high fences. With explanatory notices at the entrance intended for walkers. Vast clearings out of sight of the general public, only accessible to ONF services and regional forest protection professionals.
The place is also protected from the appetites of deer and nocturnal animals. It is mainly observed with a magnifying glass like a laboratory greenhouse. In a future environment impacted by global warming, these may be the wood species of tomorrow.
In the forest of Haye, a few hundred meters from the houses of Villers-Clairlieu, specialists come regularly to examine the evolution of nearly 400 small plantations in order to examine their evolution in size and the impression given on the rooting. In progress. Entitled “Nomad (New method of adaptation of essences)”, it is an operation implemented in the face of the urgency of global warming that fewer and fewer today are contesting.
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“Long-term societal and economic issues”
In this defined area of 2.9 ha in Nancy, four species were planted almost three years ago in order to examine their evolution: beech, calocedra, Mediterranean fir and downy oak. The State services, but also the networks of professionals and loggers closely monitor the first evolutions to determine that they seem to be the species best prepared for the predicted global warming. If, later, it is a question of replanting, you might as well turn to trees prepared to withstand the climate of tomorrow. “We are here to test, observe, understand, prepare. It is a question of anticipating ”, specifies Philippe Pernodet, head of the territorial unit ONF of Greater Nancy. “The societal and economic challenges of wood are long-term, with decisive financial perspectives”.
About ten such enclosures have been worked on and installed through the forests of Lorraine so that the changes in small shoots over time can be examined. In total, around twenty species used to hot climates have been planted. With long-term observations, it is obviously not yet time to draw conclusions, even if the calocedra already seems to adapt better than the three other types of neighboring plantations.
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