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In La Teste-de-Buch, the user forest devastated by the 2022 fires seeks its future

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In La Teste-de-Buch, the user forest devastated by the 2022 fires seeks its future

Trees 35 meters high, 180 to 200 years old. Here, in La Teste-de-Buch (Gironde), the large maritime pines of the user forest bordered the Pilat dune, near the Atlantic coast. Almost 80% of them burned during the devastating fires in the summer of 2022, which devoured 30,000 hectares of forest in the department. Of the 8,500 hectares of forest harvested, 7,000 have disappeared.

Quickly, after the fire, the owners of this forest, the only one in France that respects management regulations dating back to the 15th century.my century – a civil contract called “bailettes and transactions” – they had to organize to launch, as a 1917 transaction required, the sale of the damaged wood. Then distribute the income between the owners, the municipalities that use the forest and the union fund. A huge project was then begun to evacuate the dead or fatally damaged wood.

Two years of restoration

The winding landscape of this rich forest is now chaotic. On a piece of land where deciduous trees have begun to grow again, Matthieu Cabaussel, vice president of the forest’s free trade union association (ASL), shows a one-year-old pine tree emerging from the sandy soil. “It took two years of work to remove the dead wood”explains. The work was completed in the summer of 2024 and had the support of experts, including Julien Goullier-Lagadec, a specialist in forestry engineering, and Jacques Hazera, in the biodiversity part.

During this project we also had to deal with an invasion of bark beetles, insects that attack weakened pine trees. “We received a slap in the face: the fire devastated everything on one side, the bark beetles on the other”laments Matthieu Cabaussel, owner of a forest land acquired by his family about thirty years ago. On his property, 90% of the pine trees were saved from the flames, but the bark beetle decimated everything. Matthieu Cabaussel makes an inventory of the new plants that have appeared since the fire, among the young pine shoots: “Dyer, Canadian erection, ailante…” After the fires, so many invasive species appeared, which prevent the pine trees from growing in optimal conditions. “The fern, for example, is the first predator of the young pine, which needs light”explains.

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On the side of the road, a sign added after the fires indicates a hunting area. Matthieu Cabaussel explains: “It is important that hunters come to regulate the deer population. » This deer has the habit of grazing on the terminal bud of the pine, which prevents it from developing. In front of this field of ruins, the owner of the forest notices that there are “As the beginning of a response, we will take the time to put everything back in its place. “We are still in this phase of imbalance due to the consequences of the fire.”. Therefore, the period is to observe the natural regeneration of this biodiversity, from which the forestry experience continues. To try to preserve the original population of these bicentennial maritime pines, the general administrators took almost a million seeds from the used forest. A true seed bank that could help support natural regeneration where it will be most difficult.

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