France

Adeli is an interprofessional association whose objective is to bring together neighbouring private owners in order to set up sufficient site units to trigger stand improvement operations and equipment work (storage area, wood loading area). Adeli's technicians, partly financed by the region, help to define the appropriate silvicultural interventions, constitute grouping files and carry out site receptions. Thanks to this animation, the stands are put back into management with dynamic silviculture that will eventually produce quality wood.

Thanks to Adeli, the overheads and prospecting costs of economic operators are reduced. Cost implementation of volumes mobilized is 3-4 € m3 depending on the files.

To initiate a grouped site, it is necessary at least 3 owners, for a site surface of at least 8 ha (4h for hardwoods), within a radius of 2km. Owners and operators must commit to a sustainable management certification system and pay membership fees: €25/year and €250/year respectively.
Once the grouping is completed, aid is provided by the region for owners ranging from 200 € to 500 €/ha for stand improvement. For aid for the creation of equipment, the maximum aid before tax is € 6500.
The sites implemented by ADELI mobilize 650 ha of stands every year, 50% of which are deciduous for a wood volume of 45,000 to 50,000 m3.

It is a handbook on the practicability of forest plots. The machines work all year round in the forest and sometimes in unfavourable weather conditions. With an average cutting period of 6 to 10 years, soils have little time to recover in the event of major impacts. Soil compaction and rutting can cause productivity losses on the nearest trees. The handbook aims to give recommendations at each stage of the forest site and for each actor in the mobilisation of wood.

The guide aims to improve the quality of forest sites and consequently to make wood cutting more acceptable to the general public.

The handbook contains 23 recommendations throughout the wood mobilisation chain: during forest management, before the forest site, during the site, after the site and in the company. For example, it indicates to the owners the good practices to adopt to avoid a too important impact of the ground during the building site, like knowing the feasibility of the grounds, the elements of the ground, and the sensitive zones.

The CIFA is a regulated savings product, subscribed with Crédit Agricole, whose objective is to encourage wood mobilization by creating financial savings.  
Any natural or legal person who owns forest plots that have taken out storm risk insurance can build up savings.
A CIFA can be opened with a financial institution holding a deposit account or with an insurance company.
The funds placed in this account come only from the income from logging and will be used to finance work to reconstitute forest plots after disasters (health, climate, weather or fire-related risks) or routine forestry work (brush clearing) for the prevention of these risks.

CIFA helps improve sustainable forest management and requires owners to take out storm insurance. It promotes logging and therefore mobilisation by allowing 3/4 exemption from wealth tax and transfer duties.
Without the CIFA, an owner who cut his wood was taxed 100% on the ISF. To keep a tax advantage, he left his forest standing without cutting. The CIFA then makes it possible to market wood that would have remained standing.

Owners can invest up to 2 500 €/ha of insured forest. They can withdraw at any time up to 30% of the total sum of the CIFA per year for current works and up to 100% for works following a disaster. To open an account, the owner must have an insurance certificate, a sustainable management document and a notarized property certificate.
The remuneration is fixed in the contract. In Aquitaine, the CIFA of Crédit Agricole d'Aquitaine sets a rate of return of 2 to 2.5%/year.
The duration of the contract is 10 years.
It allows 75% of the sums deposited there and the interest they generate from the sale of timber to be exempt from wealth tax, gift tax or inheritance tax. The tax benefits are then the same as for standing forests.

The Caisse Phyto Forêt, a South-West France forest protection and provident fund, was created at the initiative of the South-West France Forestry Syndicate in 2013 to provide concrete phytosanitary solutions for the Landes de Gascogne massif. The purpose of this association (law 1901) is to act in matters of uninsurable phytosanitary risks. The Caisse Phyto Forêt is working on the development of a method to prevent the contamination of stumps and healthy trees by the fomes, a root fungus that causes significant damage to conifers by reducing the quality of the wood and causing mortality in stands.

Currently, the dosage of the blue dye recommended by the manufacturer does not allow, in certain cases, to sufficiently color the product and to verify the correct application of the product. It would be necessary to multiply by 3 or 4 the dose of dye necessary, meaning an additional cost for the operator and thus the forest owner.
Operators and contractors must undergo training to obtain a plant protection product certificate (CERTI-PHYTO).
It is now necessary to communicate more widely with the foresters of the massif in order to encourage them to treat the strains and stem the spread of contaminations.

In order to avoid contamination of the stands, the treatment against fomes is applied to each cut of wood (depressing, thinning, and clearcutting). The product to be used is a powder to be diluted in water containing spores and mycelia of a fungus endemic to the massif, the Phlebiopsis gigantea natural strain VRA-1835, with an antagonistic action to the development of the resinous fomes. The only one approved in France is the Rotstop, manufactured and sold by AROLE. As the mixture is colourless, a blue dye should be added to check the correct spray on the stumps.
Application must be made within 3 hours after cutting, either by manual painting or mechanical spraying by adapting systems at the harvester head: using a guide spraying the product through holes distributed along the guide, or with a nozzle that sprays the product in a single outlet. The solution is then spread over the stumps when the trees are cut.
Loggers need to equip their machines with one of two systems to automate processing.
Treatment can take place throughout the year and to be effective, 80% of stumps must be treated.

MOVAPRO is a program developed by the CNPF to create decision support tools for forest owners in order to mobilize "additional" wood from non-exploited resources). The challenge is to balance in the value chain while preserving sustainable forest management. To meet the growing needs of wood energy users, it is necessary to assess the potential for mobilising additional wood.
In 2014, the first site monitoring was carried out in Aquitaine and Normandy in order to identify the weak points of the wood energy harvesting sites and to know the operating costs and purchase prices of the wood.
The objective is then to evaluate and remove the obstacles to the mobilisation of wood energy.

It is possible to extend the CartoMovapro tool to other territories but it is necessary to have information on the status of the forest track.
Once finalized, the database will provide a landowner with more information to guide him in his silviculture choices and encourage him to harvest his wood and return his stands to production.

The 3 tools developed are:
• MOVAPRO Diagnosis: sheet to be completed in order to draw up an inventory of the site: infrastructures present, presence of regulatory and environmental zoning, assessment of wood quality,....
• CartoMovapro : GIS tool that identifies and analyses the difficulty or not in mobilising wood according to 5 criteria :
- the slope
- the presence of forest under sustainable management document
- constraints related to regulatory zoning
- obstacles such as ditches,...
- longshoring distance.
The results are in cartographic form, indicating levels of difficulty in mobilization.
• The database of work costs and wood prices: tool whose purpose is to collect and share data on wood purchase prices, reconstitution work costs, operating costs and to link them with the data provided in the MOVAPRO diagnosis. This database is currently being developed so that it can be used by all CRPF technicians at national level.

A network of 42,000 km of DFCI tracks covers Aquitaine. In the Landes de Gascogne, the service network is the largest with 3.38 km per 100 ha of forest. These trails have a dual interest: fire fighting and access to forest sites for forestry equipment. They serve as firebreaks between forest plots and facilitate access to both fire and rescue services and logging operations. These forest tracks were created and are now maintained by DFCI's 241 ASAs (authorized syndical association) as well as private and public owners.

There are currently difficulties in renewing volunteers in these ASAs that lead to a loss of technical knowledge. The legislative and accounting context is becoming increasingly complex, which can become an obstacle to owners' involvement in the management of ASAs.
The regional Association of Aquitaine DFCI leads and accompanies the network of volunteers, particularly in the preparation of grant applications and public contracts.

DCFI’s ASAs are registered trade syndical associations of forest owners with the aim of maintaining infrastructure of collective and public interest at common expense. The ASAs are public establishments, under prefectural supervision, managed by the owners. They became compulsory throughout the Landes de Gascogne massif following the 1945 ordinance. An ASA has a delimited perimeter where all owners located inside become members. The ASA has work done to create and maintain tracks, ditches, water points and drilling. A contribution is required from members in order to finance the operation. The rules concerning the eligibility of owners for this contribution are laid down by the ASAs. Taxes average around 2.5 to 3 €/ha/year. Currently 2,500 volunteer forest owners are involved in the ASA, coordinated by the DFCI Aquitaine (association law 1901).

Groupama Forêts Assurances is a solidarity and responsible mutual insurance company specialising in forest insurance.
Since the 1960s, the mutual has been investing in the purchase of real estate in Bordeaux. It was able to compensate silviculturists following the storms.  
Since 2017, the State has decided to stop helping foresters to restore their forests after a storm has passed. It is necessary to promote forest insurance as one of the first acts of sustainable management in order to provide financial resources to restore the forest after a disaster and to secure the heritage.
Their objective today is to extend forest insurance to any forest owner with a sustainable management document.

 - securing forest investment
- propose a complement to preventive action (fire)
- allow reforestation after a disaster
- contribute to the harmonisation of sustainable management criteria in Europe
- better guarantee of producing wood in the future in the face of storm and fire risks.

The contracts apply to fire, storm and civil liability risks in the forest.
Guarantee levels are in several forms:
- flat-rate compensation for the reconstitution per hectare, which ranges from €500/ha to €5,000/ha depending on the type of stand and the region
- fixed compensation for the reconstitution and in addition compensation for the value of the damaged wood (100€/ha/year for the first 15 years or 150€/ha/year for the first 20 years).
The packages are adapted according to the species and the forest and therefore applies to all forests in France.
To date, only 5% of forest owners are insured; however, the level of risks in the forest is constantly rising.
The European participation envisaged for the future would reduce the cost of contributions and thus allow all owners to have access to insurance. To do this, needs must be assessed on the basis of a sample of European countries and European insurance models must be adaptable to each Member State. 

Xyloforest is a research, innovation and service platform for cultivated forest systems, products and materials. Its objective is to contribute to the adaptation of forest resources to climate change. Its scientific objective is to improve knowledge and implement innovative solutions to increase the use of wood in construction, improve wood quality and develop green chemistry. The scope covers the entire forest-wood chain: Xylomic: genomics and tree phenotyping Xylobiotech: forest biotechnologies Xylosylve: innovative silvicultural systems Xyloplate: advanced wood engineering Xylomat: Composite wood-based products and biosourced materials Xylochem: Wood chemistry and bio-refinery Xyloforest developed in 2011 following the call for projects “Equipement d'Excellence” of the future investment program (ANR-10-EQPX-16). The project is scheduled to end in 2020, and the grant received for its entire duration is €10.2 million. The aid is distributed among the various partners for the purchase of equipment. Each technical platform has a laboratory with specific equipment to host new collaborative projects. Laboratories can provide the scientific community with premises, or data and host measurement and experimental equipment. They can also contribute their experience for product and service developments (e.g. STRADIVERNIS project for the development of an industrial varnish based on rosin and vegetable oil from the Xylomat platform). The XYLOFOREST platform is a support for teaching on forests and wood with more than 130 students trained, including 57 doctoral students since 2013.

Futurobois is a registered association, operating by voluntary membership.
The objective of the interprofessional association is to unite professionals in the forest-wood-paper sector within an association to exchange and meet. Futurobois' main mission is to promote and inform professionals, local authorities and the general public about the use of wood products.
They help member companies to find solutions to enable their economic, technical, human and environmental development.
Futurobois' team consists of 5 people.

Futurobois operates mainly thanks to funding from the region, the State, Europe and the national interprofessional organisation (France Bois Forêt). The remainder comes from membership fees and services rendered. They are the 4th largest interprofessional association in France in terms of number of member companies and 8th in terms of budget.
They provide technical knowledge on wood materials to architects and try to better understand their needs in wood construction.
Assistance is offered to project managers to remove the blocking points concerning the use of wood in construction (fire risk, insect,...).

In June 2018, the interprofessional association had 237 members in 42 sectors, including forestry, primary processing, secondary processing and construction. The association's actions are the preparation and animation of:  
visits to sawmills, factories,
days of visits around wood processing: from the forest site to the secondary processing,
meetings dedicated to professionals by sector of activity (e.g. in 2018 meetings of furniture professionals),
steering committee for the development of poplar in New Aquitaine,
study trips abroad.
These visits allow companies to meet and give them better visibility with public or private project managers and elected officials.
The interprofessional organisation also helps companies to secure their supply and comply with regulatory frameworks for small companies. They offer them a catalogue of training courses on different themes (human resources, accounting, etc.)

The objective of the project is to provide a set of tools adapted to the needs of very small forestry and logging companies. ForLog is a forest site management software connected to a remote database accessible via the web. The software allows structured messages to be sent to field teams (mission orders) and customers (sales slips). A mobile application on a smartphone allows to enter data concerning construction site activities. The service offer is proposed to companies in the form of a subscription.

It is an innovative solution to improve the quality of silviculture and forestry operations accessible to very small, poorly computerized companies, and a solution that enhances the possibilities offered by the web, mobile Internet, computerized mapping.

All operations concerning the commercial (estimates, invoices), administrative (site declarations), operational (site maps, digitisation of exchanges between operators and site managers) and financial (site balance sheets) management of the sites are proposed by ForLog, which is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) adapted to the organisation of very small forest companies. The objective of the tool is to limit the time spent on site management and improve the economic performance of forest companies. User feedback highlights:
- Easy handling of the tool;
- Time saved during administrative tasks;
- Ability to quickly access summary data on team activities (working hours, productivity, progress);
- Significant savings in travel time to access construction sites and locate boundaries;
- Improvement of the company's image towards its partners.