Arboretums: from project to reality on the ground

Why the Arboretums?

The forest faces many challenges. They are both affected by climate change and by the importation of new pathogens and pests. These challenges threaten both its productivity and its multifunctionality. It is against this backdrop that the Arboretums " were launched in April 2018 to mark SRFB's 125th anniversary. Its ambition is to test, on a life-size scale, various new species and new provenances through a network of experimental plots spread across the whole of France. This project will enable us to study their survival, growth, resistance to climatic stress and disease, as well as their silvicultural value and wood quality. The aim, of course, is to broaden the range of genetic material available to foresters for reforestation in the decades to come.

As project coordinator, SRFB is supported by a scientific committee responsible for the protocols and for selecting the species and provenances to be tested. It will then analyse the data collected. The committee is made up of several Belgian universities, the Department for the Study of the Natural and Agricultural Environment (DEMNA) in the Walloon Region and its Flemish counterpart, the Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (INBO). The Department of Nature and Forests (DNF), via the seed counter, is also heavily involved, particularly in the selection of provenances and the purchase of seeds. The project is also being developed in collaboration with forest owners (both private and public), who are making their plots of land available for the purpose. After a year in existence, the Arboretums have begun to take shape in the field.

Read thearticle in the July-August 2019 issue of Silva Belgica.