TREES FOR TOMORROW

Trees live for many, many years – and always in the same place. They can’t just “take off” when they feel like it! Global warming is the big issue today, so we would be well-advised to plant them in the right place right now – gaining wisdom and better-looking trees at the same time. Thanks to the woodland legacies we shall find ways of inventing or rediscovering, in a world fitted to man, alternative forms of energy which will no longer entail warfare in oil-producing countries or devastation for our hapless neighbours who are unlucky enough to live on soil containing traces of uranium.
Learning how to use what we produce stands to reason. The EU have established in France an experimental network called “CLIMAQ”. They have planted a number of carefully selected trees in view of the inevitable climate changes ahead. In Dordogne we saw the creation of one of these promising plantations – in Savignac-de-Miremont, on the hill above the famous Neanderthal necropolis: “La Ferrassie”.

CLIMAQ IN AQUITAINE

In Aquitaine, CLIMAQ will be developing a total of nine demo zones. On each individual type of woodland - Adour Pyrénées, Dordogne Garonne and the Massif Landais – they have identified the patches of land where regrowth is most consistent. The different species of broadleaf and needleleaf trees have been selected according to the nature of the soil in which they are to be planted and their potential resistance to global warming. In each area the same plan of action is repeated three times. In Dordogne Garonne the chosen sites are Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière, Saint-Georges-de-Monclar and Savignac-de-Miremont.

“SURE-FIRE” SPECIES AND NEWCOMERS FROM THE SOUTH

The species being planted are six conifers:
• Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica)
• Lebanon Cedar (Cedrus libani)
• Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
• European Black Pine (Pinus nigra var calabrica)
• Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster)
• Nordmann Fir (Abies nordmanniana)

and six broad-leaved trees:
• Sessile Oak (Quercus petrae)
• Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
• Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos))
• Field Maple (Acer campestre)
• Italian Alder (Alnus cordata)
• Champion Oak (Quercus rubra)

In the above list you will have spotted a certain number of « immigrants » - i.e.: species such as the Champion Oaks, which were introduced into Europe in the 70’s. Then there are the recent additions such as the Lebanon Cedars or the Atlas Cedars, from the Mediterranean region; since they are able to withstand drought, they could prove to be more suitable than our traditional beeches which are moving gradually further north.

THE MEN IN THE WOODS

To implement this plan of action, the forest managers at the Centre Régional de la Propriété Forestière d’Aquitaine have been approached. Frédéric Ledun, from Le Pays de Caux, the home of Maupassant - where age-old beech trees on bob-trimmed embankments all around the farms serve as a protection against the strong sea winds (the splendid Seine-Marine “clos masure”) – has been invited to pilot the scheme in the south of Dordogne. He is officially in charge of the Savignac-de-Miremont plantation.
In acidic soil where woodlands prosper (with maritime pines, “Pyrenaica” oaks and oak tree saplings), the beech stumps need removing to leave room for the twelve new chosen species. Once the ground has been ploughed, 3,000 plants will be introduced in winter 2009/2010. After that, the plan will really begin to take shape as the experts check that the seedlings have rooted and monitor their growth.
These studies will continue for a long, long time; the trees will still be there to tell their story when the tree planters and landowners have passed on to the next generation the duty of pursuing observations. If everything goes according to plan, then it will be their turn to make the right decisions for future generations. That’s what sustainable management is all about.

Sophie Cattoire