Palotas forest

The Palotas forest is located between the communes of Saint-Dizier-Leyrenne and Chatelus-le-Marcheix in France.
This forest is a particularly wild place, and a source of tranquillity where oaks, Douglas firs, chestnuts and other fir trees will grow for decades to come, forming majestic stands that will restore the forest to its full splendour! The biodiversity in this forest is rich, and numerous actions have been implemented to preserve it.

In 2021, a manual clearing was carried out and Trico, a sheep fat-based wild game repellent, was applied to the remaining plants. The following year, inter-row mulching was done. This consists of clearing the spaces between the planting rows to slow down the development of competing vegetation. Trico was again applied to the plants to protect them from hungry deer.
Other forestry actions are planned for the coming years, including clearing along the planting lines in the mixed coniferous/broadleaf plot. Fill planting is also planned in the Douglas fir plot and a new application of Trico to protect the plants is being considered.

This forest is very rich in biodiversity, which is why we have signed a membership to the Nature Conservatory for the protection of wetlands. In 2021, a Index for Biodiversity Potential (IBP) was conducted, and several projects were implemented as a result. For example, nesting boxes were installed, and habitat restoration actions were carried out by our teams, including the selection and preservation of den trees. The following year, a 240 metre honey hedge was planted. In the coming years, other actions are planned, such as monitoring insects activity and conducting an inventory of saproxylic insects.