Projected ecosystem data - France

The Landes of Gascony Forest is located in the South-West of France, in the Nouvelle Aquitaine administrative region. This territory of 1.5 million hectares is the most forested in France (74% afforestation rate), and 90% of this forest area is dominated by intensively managed monoculture plantations of native Pinus pinaster. To enhance the resilience of these forests, hedgerows of broadleaved species are being established in this area. This French projection report is part of the deliverable D6.5 on projected ecosystem data. The forest development under varying restoration scenarios is projected for the upcoming 30 years, until 2055, with use of the EFISCEN-Space model. Five scenarios are simulated with EFISCEN-Space: a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and 4 restoration scenarios. In the business-as-usual scenario, the forest development is simulated under current management regimes. In the first restoration scenario, 10% of the previous dominated maritime pine plots are planted exclusively with oak. In the second restoration scenario, 10% of the previous dominated maritime pine plots are planted exclusively with birch. In the third restoration scenario, all plots dominated by maritime pine are 10% planted with oak. In the fourth restoration scenario, birch is planted inside 10% of all plots dominated by maritime pine. The model projections showed that alternative scenarios 3 and 4 improve forest structure and species composition though maintaining the initial level of increment throughout the simulation period proves challenging across all scenarios. Also, in these monocultures, even small interventions can enhance both species composition and structural diversity which make the forests more resilient for the future.