Nouvelle-Aquitaine

The Forest Funds en Limousin is a regional structure that acts as an interface between forest owners and financial contributors. It manages financial flows and handles requests from forest owners requesting assistance.  This private initiative was initiated by Fransylva in Limousin (Limousin forest owners' syndicate).

By the end of 2017: 180 hectares of plantation have been validated by the Forest Fund in Limousin and 90 hectares are still under study.

In return for their financial investments through the Forest Fund in Limousin, companies and local authorities are awarded the "I love the Limousin forest, I support it" label, enabling them to communicate to their clients or employees about their interest in preserving the environment and fighting climate change. The sums paid by companies are tax deductible because the share is considered sponsorship. The forestry works eligible for aid are plantations or forest improvements. The minimum surface area of the forest sites must be 1 ha.

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.

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).

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.)