Forest management: sanitation cutting

French forests are facing numerous challenges related to climate change, which are affecting their vitality and productivity. To ensure their long-term survival and versatility, management actions are carried out by forestry experts. They are carrying out clear-cuts or sanitation cuts. Although the general public sees these actions as massive deforestation, they are actually necessary in order to :
- curb an epidemic of bark beetles (insect pests) that spread over a forest area in a very alarming way.
-combat fires that tend to happen in areas with dead dry wood
- reuse the precious wood locally (heating, construction, toilet paper, etc.).
Each forest is different, and each management decision has to be taken on the basis of a number of parameters: surface area, species, neighbouring forests, global warming, the owner's requirements, the impact on the landscape, the environment or the economy, etc. The decisions to carry out these operations therefore lie with the owners. In France, 75% of forests belong to private owners. The regulations governing forestry joint enterprises and legislation remain unclear, despite requests for logging permits and regional development plans. When you enter a forest on a signposted trail, the absence of any signs (you would have seen the signs in a national forest) means that you are in a private forest.