Let's plant trees!
In order to regenerate the forest, foresters plant trees suited to the soil and climate.
Plantations are among the tools available to foresters for regenerating a forest.
However, they do not plant just any tree, anywhere: each species has specific needs to ensure its growth, health, and ability to cope with adverse events.
In technical terms, we talk about ’fuel-station suitability«.
This refers to the optimal compatibility between a tree species and its forest site (the soil, climate, and local conditions in which it is planted) in order to produce quality timber.
Why plant?
To diversify the forest and help it cope with climate change, using species that are potentially better adapted without being invasive.
By planting species in forests that are potentially better suited to current and future climatic conditions – whether these are local, less common species, species from other regions, or a broader genetic diversity within existing species – foresters aim to strengthen the resilience of stands.
By resilience, we mean the capacity of a forest ecosystem to withstand disturbances (droughts, diseases, storms, etc.) and then recover, without losing its essential functions.
These interventions aim not only to preserve the forest as a natural habitat but also to meet the needs for wood production (an essential resource for the sector) and for numerous societal uses.
Our forests have been profoundly modified, simplified, and homogenised by centuries of human management, making them more vulnerable today to rapid climate changes and health crises. Left Nature would eventually find its own balance, even after major disturbances. However, our societies and the timber industry depend on specific forest services (production, stability, accessibility, safety, etc.) which could be severely compromised if no action were taken.
When essences from other regions are considered, their selection is made with caution.
Foresters ensure that only non-invasive species are introduced, species that can integrate harmoniously with local ecosystems without upsetting existing environments.
Natural regeneration as a gift
Nature replants too! Foresters support this regeneration to preserve diversity and obtain sustainable, quality timber.
reproduction naturelle natural regeneration.
In this case, the role of the forester is to accompany this natural process by different targeted interventions, for example:
- protect young plants against damage from deer, stag and/or wild boar,
- limit excessive vegetation growth,
- select the most robust trees to form the future stand,
- maintaining diversity by encouraging different spontaneous species,
- ensuring good wood quality by nurturing the growth of the most promising trees.
Good to know
There is no single way to create the forest of tomorrow.
The foresters combine plantation and natural regeneration depending on the contexts, always with the aim of obtaining settlements scientific, diversified and resilient.
By choosing the right species and allowing ample room for natural processes, they help to build a forest capable of resist, adapt and continue to offer us its many benefits.
To go further
- Position of the SRFB: Introducing new species and provenances in response to climate change: daring or reckless?
- Migforest European Interreg project aiming to deploy «assisted migration» in Northwestern Europe.
- Trees for the Future Experimental project aimed at identifying tree species and forest origins that will contribute to the adaptation of forests to climate change.
- FSC Belgium https://be.fsc.org/be-fr
- Fibowa, a media outlet on the future of the Walloon wood sector: https://fibowa.be/