Launay Guen forest

The Launay Guen forest is located in the Côtes-d’Armor in Brittany, France. This region is characterised by a cool climate with abundant rainfall (over 1000 mm/year), often misty and windy.
Situated on a south-east facing slope, the woods stretch across from a soft hill, and it borders the pond of Launay’s castle.
With a total area of 121 hectares, it’s divided into 11 forestry sites of varied sizes and types. We acquired it in 2021 from a private owner.

A 21 hectare reforestation plot was clear-cut in the forest between 2016 and 2020 before we took ownership. The harvesting was poorly carried out and the already poor-quality land was damaged. The area had previously been reforested with Douglas fir, but the damaged forest sites were unable to maintain a satisfactory production target with this species.
We resumed these plantations in 2021 by carrying out "reforestation" work, so that the land can maintain wood production objectives. This involves grinding paths within the Douglas fir plantation and replacing them with maritime pines. Birch, oak and chestnut trees will be maintained within the plot to diversify the stand of trees.
Finally, thanks to accompanying species, the stand of trees will be more diversified and will enable the development of local biodiversity. The young plantation will thus be more resilient and better able to defend itself against possible diseases or insect attacks and against climate change.

A biodiversity analysis was carried out to define the ecological challenges of the forest and define the actions we could develop there.
The potential challenges concern reptiles, amphibians, birds, bats and butterflies. More detailed inventories are necessary to validate the actions to be implemented.
Invasive species have been identified on the site, including cherry laurel and rhododendron. They will be removed to stop their spread.