“Before thinking about planting new ones, we must preserve the old trees”: the president of the Arbres association this Tuesday in Montpellier

Georges Feterman in conference this Tuesday in Pitot. Midi Libre – DR

Georges Feterman, national president of the Arbres association, will give a conference this Tuesday, January 14, at 6:30 p.m., at the Guillaume-de-Nogaret room, in Pitot, Montpellier. Free entry. The opportunity to take stock of local policy around trees, often mentioned by the mayor.

What will your conference on Tuesday be about? ?

I will talk about the remarkable trees of France: extraordinary, very old, very big, those that have a history, how and why to protect them… This follows my visit to preserve the oak of Castelnau-le-Lez. We have given it our remarkable tree label. It must be protected. Like all the others in France. In fact, we have just celebrated our thousandth labeled tree in the territory.

Why was the oak of Castelnau classified as remarkable? ?

It is a very large tree, almost 6 m in circumference. It is all the more remarkable because it is a large oak in the city. The interest is climatic, for biodiversity too, aesthetic of course…

Classifying a tree as remarkable is a heritage approach but, today, it is also becoming a political approach ?

Yes. Politics by definition is the day-to-day management of the city. I have a national vision of this dimension and many municipalities do indeed want to plant trees, it is a good thing. We support them in this direction. But before thinking about planting, we must preserve the old trees for all that they bring in oxygen, in carbon dioxide emissions, for shelters for species…

In Montpellier and in our region, old plane trees are regularly cut down…

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It’s complicated for plane trees. Particularly in the far south of France, a disease has arrived: canker stain. It’s irreversible. The only solution today is felling. You have a known case in Hérault, it’s the Canal du Midi. We have taken a position on replanting. The key word is diversity. Including in alignment. The more diversified it is, the more the trees resist.

Are there abuses?? Are there trees that are cut down even though they are not diseased??

Indeed, plane tree disease can sometimes be used as a pretext for felling trees. We make sure that this is not the case. We ask for counter-expertise. But if the tree is sick, there is no other solution than felling it.

The mayor of Montpellier has promised to plant 50,000 trees during his term. What does that inspire in you? ?

In any case, voluntarism does no harm. He is not the only mayor in France to have announced a massive tree planting, but we must preserve old trees as a priority for all that they bring: they work much better and much more than young trees. It is good for the planet.

On the Comédie, eight elms were planted. This was much discussed because the bill was several million euros. What do you think about it ?

Classic elms have been victims of a disease called Dutch elm disease. I imagine that there was some thought and that they planted a resistant variety. I can't tell you much more about this subject that I don't know. On the other hand, not far from where you live, in the Aude, near Carcassonne, in a village called Villesèquelande, there is a Sully elm. It was planted under Henri IV. It is over 400 years old, it is the last one in France and it is resistant.

Georges Feterman is the guest of the association Non au béton this Tuesday. Associate professor of natural sciences, he is also the author of the book “Les plus beaux chênes de France”, published by Albin-Michel.