Alès: technicians at the bedside of the endangered forest

Benjamin Audigier, technicien forêt lors d’une opération de mesure en prévision d’abattage. Camera Obscura – STEPHANE BARBIER

Faced with climate change, ONF technicians support the forest in terms of resistance and resilience. Example with a hammering sequence in Alès.

Tchac! The hammer blow resounds sharply in the heart of the Alès forest. This Tuesday, December 10, in the hands of forest technician Benjamin Audigier, the first act of a long-running play is being played out: “Let’s save our forests”. And for good reason. As a result of climate change and rising temperatures, 2024 will certainly be the hottest year ever recorded, multiple dangers threaten the forest, both Cévennes and national. Thus, and for several years now, these men of the woods have been at the latter’s bedside.

With a sharp blow of the hammer, Benjamin Audigier engraves the initials AF, for financial administration on the trunk of the stem designated for felling. Camera Obscura – STEPHANE BARBIER

That morning, on the site of the Rouvergue forest, above the Tamaris district, “a small green lung stuck between the Alès mechanical hub and the east of the city”, explains Loïc Fontaine, in charge of the sector, the team of around ten technicians remains attentive to the instructions relating to a hammering operation (read opposite). An essential forestry action, carried out in the autumn, it specifies the stems (trees, editor's note) to be cut down in order to allow the development of other subjects. But it offers many other virtues in these times of struggle.
“Here, we have 60 hectares in one piece, with nearly a hundred dead trees, continues Loïc Fontaine. A regeneration operation took place in 2016, but it was not continued in 2019 because there was no reaction from the forest. It will therefore be a maximum of one stem selected out of three, for a yield of 50 to 60 m3 per hectare. What is important is the work on the landscape aspect, but also on diversity and population.”

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Loïc Fontaine, technician in charge of this sector of the Rouvergue forest overlooking the Alès mechanical center. Camera obscura – STEPHANE BARBIER

A very young forest, barely a century old, which grew on poor soil from mining waste, the maritime pine, necessary for the timbering of the galleries, forms the majority of the species. Added to this are a few Atlas cedars, holm oaks and red oaks (the latter is considered invasive) as well as strawberry trees and acacias. A forest cover that is now managed according to the principle of “mosaic forest, a reflection combining species and structure in order to offer the forest the strongest resistance and resilience”, explains David Massa, head of the Cévennes-Cèze territorial unit, made up of 13 people and working in an area of ​​30,000 hectares.
While forecasts set +2°C for 2050 and +2°C again by 2100, it is highly likely that the Corsican pine, introduced by the ancients “who thought they were doing the right thing”, will not survive at such low altitudes.
For example, David Massa highlights the reforestation plan in the commune of Saint-Victor-de-Malcap for which umbrella pine or Aleppo pine species are favored. Among the threats that also weigh on the forest, the strong presence of ruminants leads to browsing and reduces to zero any (costly) repopulation project. “We are here to accompany the forest, poetizes Philippe Koehl. The time of a forest is 150 years and, as a watercolorist would do, we do not change the colors, we only bring nuances…”

 

” We must find the stem of the future”

Forestry hammer and square in hand, forestry technician Benjamin Audigier cautiously enters the slope, stops and, at a glance, assesses the quality of the trees. “We must find the stem of the future, to push aside the one with average straightness or a defect in order to capitalize on the one that offers the most potential." With a sharp blow, the bark is peeled off so that the hammer engraves its initials AF, for forest administration, the heart of the tree. Then measured at a right angle in order to reference the tree on software. Paint marks that can be read by forest users then make it possible to determine whether the tree is at fell (red dot), retained for biodiversity (yellow-ochre inverted triangle), or exceptional (yellow line). In this sector of Rouvergue, the sale price will be 20 € to 30 € per cubic meter.

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