Our forests are dying: this is the observation of the National Forestry Office. In six years, more than 300,000 hectares of public forests have suffered early mortality. This is 38 times the area of Strasbourg.
Hubert Schmuck, technical manager at the ONF of the country of Sarrebourg and the country of Bitche
What is the current situation of forests in our department?
Currently, the situation varies depending on the different species: the beech suffered from droughts (end of 2010 to 2023), it lost many leaves and branches, with some mortality. Sick trees recover with difficulty. The oak also suffered the same consequences as the beech, but it will heal better. Scots pine and conifers are generally doing better in the region. The spruce is in sharp decline, with high and very sudden mortality, due to attacks by bark beetles and typographs, which are very serious primary pests attacking even healthy trees. They cause great damage to nurseries and spruce stands, especially at low altitudes but also in the mountains. The tree is better; it is recovering from the 2022 bark beetle attacks, attacks different from those of the spruce, which also affected fir trees in the mountains.
Are there other reasons for this decrease in forest area apart from the bark beetle and drought, for example human activity?
If the forests have experienced early mortality, they will immediately be replaced, replanted, and we will not see a drop in the forest area, whether on a local or national scale. It is therefore not dieback or mortality that will affect the populations and lead to a reduction in surface area. We currently have a maintenance of the overall forest area in France. We have approximately 17 million hectares of territory covered by public or private forests. It is not mortality or dieback due to climate which will reduce the forest area in France, it is being maintained. All dead plots, particularly spruce trees, are systematically replaced and reforested either by natural regeneration or by plantations. We are not losing net forest area due to health events.
Last April, the government announced a plan to combat the scourge of the bark beetle. What do you think and could it work?
I think this is a good thing, since it helps owners and operators, pools interventions and finances tools to better fight against these pests. Above all, equipping the harvester heads with knives and corsages allows the wood to be overcut, and when they are still infested by these larvae, these insects, and these bark beetles, this will make it possible to neutralize them before that they cannot spread and contaminate new populations. This bark beetle plan is a good thing.
It has rained a lot in recent months. Is this rain a good thing for our forests?
This is a good thing ; this allows us to properly nourish our forests with water in the soil for the roots. This also made it possible to recharge the water tables. But the rain should stop, because not enough water is not good for our forests, but too much neither, since the fine roots can be suffocated by excessive waterlogging, particularly in plantations, especially in young stands. For now there is no big problem, but if this rain continues we should have other problems. The forest needs the right balance: water regularly, but not too much at once.
