Syndicat forest

This forest is located in the Syndicat municipality in the Grand Est region of France. It is divided into several projects: a clear cut to be replanted, a untouched forest and a wetland to be restored. This forest is home to a hiking trail called "Circuit des Croix de chemin" or "Circuit of the Road Crosses".
The forest also contains a small stream which seems to be persistent and provides water to healthy silver fir trees, as well as several other ecosystems. The forest is surrounded by dry stone walls and includes a ruin that suggests that it was probably once used for grazing land.

This forest was taken over by EcoTree in June 2022. Over the last 6 months of the year, our teams carried out a sanitary cutting of dry and bark-beetle infested spruces and firs.This allowed us to open the future plantation area planned for the 2023/2024 season. Following these cuts, a foot-by-foot inventory of the remaining trees was carried out to assess the standing volume of the plot.
In the coming years, we will plant sessile oaks, laricio pines and Turkish hazel trees, as accompanying species in the forest.
Regeneration areas, where saplings grow locally without human intervention, will be preserved through the action of natural regeneration.

Various measures were taken to peserve the biodiversity in this forest, including the marking of 21 den trees, the mapping an ant colony, a wetland area and a stream that runs through the plot. The wetland was opened in 2022, during a cutting of some remaining dry spruces. A soil survey allowed us to monitor the evolution of this area and study the soils in detail. Our teams have conducted an Index for Biodiversity Potential (IBP) to analyse the biodiversity and inventoried amphibians, odonates, chiropterans and avifauna to better identify the site's challenges.