00:00:22.125 --> 00:00:23.583
The pines...

00:00:24.375 --> 00:00:26.875
We watched them being planted.

00:00:27.708 --> 00:00:30.000
In the pastures, everywhere.

00:00:31.917 --> 00:00:34.708
There was nothing but pine trees.

00:00:34.958 --> 00:00:35.958
That was all.

00:00:41.042 --> 00:00:45.042
The source of the River Vienne,
Plateau de Millevaches

00:00:48.458 --> 00:00:50.292
Plateau de Millevaches

00:00:50.875 --> 00:00:52.542
When the pines grew,

00:00:55.208 --> 00:00:57.208
it was a black forest!

00:00:57.875 --> 00:00:59.958
Mornings became evenings,

00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:04.167
and nothing can penetrate the pines,

00:01:04.417 --> 00:01:05.958
not even birdsong.

00:01:08.958 --> 00:01:12.000
The pines made me leave.

00:02:37.083 --> 00:02:40.125
This is a single-species plantation.

00:02:40.333 --> 00:02:42.917
Only one type of tree was planted,

00:02:43.417 --> 00:02:45.500
about 20 or 25 years ago.

00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.875
You can tell, because of the rows.

00:02:49.042 --> 00:02:53.333
They plant the seedlings in rows,
nine feet apart.

00:02:53.875 --> 00:02:56.542
That's about 400 trees per acre.

00:02:58.625 --> 00:03:02.208
Can you call this a forest?
I have my doubts.

00:03:02.417 --> 00:03:04.750
It is a tree plantation, for sure.

00:03:05.833 --> 00:03:07.458
But when you listen...

00:03:09.583 --> 00:03:10.833
Hear any birds?

00:03:11.292 --> 00:03:12.042
No birds.

00:03:12.375 --> 00:03:15.792
Look at the ground.
It's lifeless. No plants grow.

00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.000
The goal was to grow a single thing:

00:03:20.042 --> 00:03:23.958
Norway spruce, 400 per acre.

00:03:25.375 --> 00:03:27.375
And they call it a forest.

00:03:27.583 --> 00:03:31.750
But it's nothing like a forest.
There's a carpet of pine needles.

00:03:32.208 --> 00:03:37.750
If I dig, I'll find several layers
of pine needles, from each year.

00:03:38.625 --> 00:03:40.000
They haven't broken down into humus.

00:03:41.167 --> 00:03:46.417
The needles don't break down
unless they're mixed with leaves.

00:03:47.500 --> 00:03:49.625
Nature can't recycle any of it.

00:03:49.833 --> 00:03:54.000
The tree draws nourishment
from the soil, but gives none back.

00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.583
It's lifeless.
You won't find worms in the soil.

00:04:12.167 --> 00:04:14.792
This is the Douglas fir temple.

00:04:15.458 --> 00:04:17.292
What is a Douglas fir?

00:04:17.792 --> 00:04:21.875
It's the fashionable tree right now,
in the Massif Central.

00:04:23.458 --> 00:04:27.458
9 out of every 10 trees planted today
are Douglas firs.

00:04:27.750 --> 00:04:28.500
Why?

00:04:29.708 --> 00:04:31.792
Mainly, they grow very fast.

00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:34.083
They make timber quickly.

00:04:35.417 --> 00:04:37.250
One hectare of Douglas fir

00:04:37.458 --> 00:04:41.875
produces about 15 to 20 cubic meters
of lumber per year.

00:04:42.417 --> 00:04:43.750
Compare that to oak:

00:04:43.958 --> 00:04:47.542
about 5 cubic meters
per hectare per year.

00:04:47.917 --> 00:04:50.083
Four times more volume, here.

00:04:51.333 --> 00:04:55.958
If you want high yield,
nothing can compare with this fir.

00:05:04.708 --> 00:05:07.208
Douglas fir is all they want here.

00:05:07.542 --> 00:05:10.583
Anything that takes root here
naturally -

00:05:10.792 --> 00:05:13.000
because Nature usually knows
what it needs -

00:05:14.458 --> 00:05:16.792
For example, look at this...

00:05:18.833 --> 00:05:20.750
Birch. It sheds its leaves.

00:05:21.083 --> 00:05:24.625
It's a "volunteer"
that planted itself.

00:05:25.458 --> 00:05:27.042
That would be a boon,

00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:30.000
because the birch leaves
mixed with fir needles

00:05:31.167 --> 00:05:33.500
would make humus much faster

00:05:33.708 --> 00:05:37.000
than this fir-needle carpet,
which stagnates for years.

00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:41.042
The mixture is beneficial
to the soil.

00:05:41.333 --> 00:05:45.708
But birch is not the tree
the planter ordered.

00:05:46.083 --> 00:05:48.125
So they uproot the birches.

00:05:48.375 --> 00:05:50.292
Nature grows a birch...

00:05:51.042 --> 00:05:54.542
And we pay people to destroy them.

00:05:54.792 --> 00:05:58.333
The established order is sacred.
Douglas fir it is!

00:06:29.667 --> 00:06:34.042
You are in a private forest.
We all love the forest. Respect it!

00:06:34.250 --> 00:06:36.500
What you see around you

00:06:37.167 --> 00:06:38.958
is called a clearcut.

00:06:40.208 --> 00:06:42.458
It was a tree plantation,

00:06:42.667 --> 00:06:46.542
cut when the trees reached
a height of about 120 feet,

00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:49.875
The trees were probably
about 40 years old.

00:06:51.375 --> 00:06:55.125
Then humans harvested
the trees for their needs.

00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:59.250
The clearcut technique
is used to harvest timber.

00:06:59.458 --> 00:07:00.833
How is it done?

00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.417
There used to be lumberjacks,

00:07:03.625 --> 00:07:06.792
but it was a physically demanding job.

00:07:07.667 --> 00:07:09.042
It wore men out.

00:07:09.792 --> 00:07:11.458
It gave people work.

00:07:11.750 --> 00:07:15.250
Now the task has been mechanized.

00:07:16.375 --> 00:07:20.917
Since the firs are all alike,
they made a fir-harvester.

00:07:21.167 --> 00:07:22.708
A felling machine.

00:07:23.292 --> 00:07:27.292
When the land is cleared,
they'll plant small saplings.

00:07:28.125 --> 00:07:29.583
Like sowing corn.

00:07:29.792 --> 00:07:34.750
One Minister of Industry said a forest
should be managed like a cornfield.

00:07:35.208 --> 00:07:36.667
That's one man's vision.

00:07:36.875 --> 00:07:41.167
But when these saplings
are the only vegetation here,

00:07:41.375 --> 00:07:45.542
because they'll make sure
nothing natural "competes,"

00:07:45.792 --> 00:07:49.250
the young trees will need protection
from pests.

00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:52.542
The insects won't have anything else
to eat.

00:07:52.875 --> 00:07:55.708
So they'll attack the young trees,

00:07:55.917 --> 00:07:58.375
and we'll have to defend them.

00:07:58.583 --> 00:08:01.417
There are little bark beetles,
weevils.

00:08:01.625 --> 00:08:03.958
So they'll spray pesticides!

00:08:06.083 --> 00:08:10.542
That sounds crazy to most people.
Yet that's what we do.

00:08:16.750 --> 00:08:20.417
One of the world's problems
is deforestation.

00:08:20.875 --> 00:08:24.792
That's not the problem here.
Deforestation is not the threat.

00:08:25.208 --> 00:08:27.458
"Bad" forestation is.

00:11:30.333 --> 00:11:35.542
When they're this size, you have to
cut at least 200 cubic meters per day.

00:11:35.958 --> 00:11:37.750
- How much?
- 200 m3.

00:11:39.250 --> 00:11:41.333
That makes it profitable.

00:11:43.208 --> 00:11:46.292
Don't forget, a machine like this one

00:11:47.208 --> 00:11:49.500
costs about ª9,000 a month.

00:11:49.833 --> 00:11:53.042
So naturally, you have to
keep it running.

00:11:53.417 --> 00:11:57.000
You can't afford to stay home
on rainy days.

00:11:57.792 --> 00:12:02.250
And you don't feel like partying
at the end of the day.

00:12:06.875 --> 00:12:08.875
Do you work long hours?

00:12:09.042 --> 00:12:13.458
About 10 to 12 hours per day.
We have to.

00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:19.500
The landowners get upset,
because we ruin the road.

00:12:20.667 --> 00:12:23.250
But that's just part of logging.

00:13:32.833 --> 00:13:36.750
You can see the tracks
the machine made.

00:13:37.708 --> 00:13:39.333
He made his own trail,

00:13:39.583 --> 00:13:41.583
right across the stream.

00:13:41.917 --> 00:13:43.917
Several times, I'm sure.

00:13:44.083 --> 00:13:46.458
Going downhill, he pushed mud in.

00:13:47.792 --> 00:13:53.083
I think it's this particular area
that caused the pollution alert.

00:13:54.208 --> 00:13:58.167
The Water Management officials
noticed muddy water

00:13:58.500 --> 00:14:00.000
way down in the Vienne.

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:05.292
We wonder, because state officials
reported the damage.

00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:08.375
They notified the grower
of the problem.

00:14:08.708 --> 00:14:12.917
But that was last year,
before the end of December.

00:14:13.083 --> 00:14:14.833
Now it's early February.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.708
No action has been taken,
and it looks like none will be.

00:14:20.333 --> 00:14:22.333
The case is closed.

00:14:28.875 --> 00:14:30.708
When you drive loaders

00:14:30.958 --> 00:14:36.125
that weigh 15 or 20 tons empty,
and up to 40 tons, when loaded,

00:14:37.042 --> 00:14:39.500
over unstable terrain like this...

00:14:39.708 --> 00:14:43.333
Even in dry weather,
this clayey soil is sensitive.

00:14:43.875 --> 00:14:47.875
But they worked in the rain,
so the clay dissolved,

00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:50.000
and made a slurry.

00:14:50.208 --> 00:14:54.042
The slope acts as a sliding board
for the silt,

00:14:54.542 --> 00:14:56.333
straight into the stream.

00:14:57.667 --> 00:15:02.500
I'm standing in the stream bed,
but it's not easy to make out.

00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:08.500
To take my soil sample,
I have to move all this debris.

00:15:32.833 --> 00:15:34.833
I'm from Burgundy.

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:40.167
After two years of forestry school,
I came to the Limousin in 2008.

00:15:40.375 --> 00:15:42.042
And when I got here,

00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.875
I was really shocked.

00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.667
These are the types of mistakes
made in the past.

00:15:51.875 --> 00:15:55.250
Since then, our knowledge of forestry

00:15:55.958 --> 00:15:58.042
has increased considerably.

00:16:00.125 --> 00:16:03.042
We know our activities take a toll.

00:16:05.167 --> 00:16:08.250
Plus, the local population
is now elderly.

00:16:08.458 --> 00:16:10.292
We're at a crossroads.

00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:14.125
We could have considered...
we still can consider

00:16:17.250 --> 00:16:19.167
other approaches to forestry.

00:17:14.083 --> 00:17:19.083
Look at the size of that stump!
The steam shovel is stalling.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.750
He's removing a root system
that should stay in the soil.

00:17:25.292 --> 00:17:27.125
It's what feeds the soil.

00:17:27.333 --> 00:17:29.625
It re-fertilizes the forest.

00:17:31.375 --> 00:17:34.292
Look at the size of the root network.

00:17:36.292 --> 00:17:39.125
It's organic material, stored carbon.

00:17:39.333 --> 00:17:41.500
It's both of those things,

00:17:41.708 --> 00:17:46.625
It's also a network
that wicks water into the soil.

00:17:47.125 --> 00:17:50.125
The whole system will be disrupted.

00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:57.583
These techniques are based on
a specific agricultural model:

00:17:57.792 --> 00:18:00.875
Modern capital-intensive agriculture.

00:18:09.792 --> 00:18:12.917
Our soil's gone,
where it's gray and yellow.

00:18:13.208 --> 00:18:17.042
All of the fertile topsoil
has been stripped off.

00:18:17.333 --> 00:18:21.333
A little remains there,
that brown part on the left.

00:18:22.083 --> 00:18:24.333
The whole top layer of soil...

00:18:24.542 --> 00:18:28.750
It's only about five inches deep
in the thickest part.

00:18:29.083 --> 00:18:34.250
It contains all the organic matter
- that's why it's brown.

00:18:34.542 --> 00:18:38.000
It's the most fertile part
of forest soil.

00:18:38.208 --> 00:18:41.375
That's where most of the nutrients
are found,

00:18:41.583 --> 00:18:43.708
to make plants grow.

00:18:43.917 --> 00:18:47.167
It's the important soil milieu.

00:18:47.375 --> 00:18:51.208
But here, it's been ripped out
by the machines,

00:18:51.583 --> 00:18:56.167
when they were piling up
the branches and stumps.

00:18:56.542 --> 00:19:01.292
The light brown soil you see
will be sterile for a long time.

00:19:01.583 --> 00:19:03.875
The topsoil is inside the piles.

00:19:04.125 --> 00:19:07.000
But they'll plant
between the piles, not on them.

00:19:08.208 --> 00:19:10.458
So they'll have a problem.

00:19:11.625 --> 00:19:14.500
It's an encouragement
to add fertilizer,

00:19:14.792 --> 00:19:17.333
because that soil is so poor.

00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:24.792
A clean sweep.
Except that's unnatural.

00:19:25.042 --> 00:19:27.750
Nature doesn't operate that way.

00:20:02.792 --> 00:20:05.750
That's a woodland
they bought from a local.

00:20:06.875 --> 00:20:08.792
It'll be clearcut.

00:20:09.458 --> 00:20:12.542
Logs that are too big
are harder to sell.

00:20:12.750 --> 00:20:17.375
Clearcut logging shocks most people.
What makes it necessary?

00:20:17.583 --> 00:20:22.667
It looks bad to most people,
because it changes the landscape.

00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:27.500
People wonder about it,
but there's no reason to worry.

00:20:27.917 --> 00:20:32.750
This timber was planted for harvest,
and it's time to cut it down.

00:20:33.375 --> 00:20:35.542
Is the forest like a farm?

00:20:36.292 --> 00:20:39.458
It's a garden.
You sow the plants,

00:20:39.750 --> 00:20:42.042
you transplant, you plant...

00:20:42.958 --> 00:20:47.000
You clean, you weed -
that means clearing the brush.

00:20:48.167 --> 00:20:52.375
You thin your plants,
and harvest them when ripe.

00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:54.958
It's time to fell them.

00:21:01.500 --> 00:21:05.500
We work on a just-in-time basis
with the lumber mill.

00:21:05.917 --> 00:21:08.917
Some went from 5 to 30 truckloads
per day.

00:21:09.542 --> 00:21:11.542
They demand a lot of lumber,

00:21:12.458 --> 00:21:15.958
and we have to respond
to their demand.

00:21:17.958 --> 00:21:19.625
When they need wood,

00:21:20.042 --> 00:21:24.167
they give the order to go ahead
and fell lots of trees.

00:21:24.458 --> 00:21:29.292
The logs can't wait.
As soon as they're cut, they're sawed.

00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:32.417
We work under pressure.

00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:36.667
It's much greater pressure
than before.

00:21:39.667 --> 00:21:41.708
This particular tree

00:21:42.417 --> 00:21:45.667
will be hard to sell
on the French market.

00:21:45.875 --> 00:21:49.833
The diameter of the trunk -
you see how big it is...

00:21:50.667 --> 00:21:54.792
These days, hardly any
of our local customers want that.

00:21:55.375 --> 00:21:57.958
A few sawmills, occasionally.

00:21:58.458 --> 00:22:02.708
But this tree will be shipped
to China. Or India, or Pakistan.

00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:16.458
Tree harvesters have revolutionized
the forestry world.

00:22:19.917 --> 00:22:21.500
In terms of labor.

00:22:21.708 --> 00:22:23.750
Compared to a harvester:

00:22:23.958 --> 00:22:27.792
A lumberjack cuts
about 20 cubic meters per day.

00:22:28.458 --> 00:22:31.208
On a good day, in a clean forest.

00:22:32.833 --> 00:22:35.833
A tree harvester cuts 150.

00:22:44.583 --> 00:22:47.458
- Is this a good site?
- It sure is!

00:22:48.208 --> 00:22:50.000
If all our sites were like this one...

00:22:51.458 --> 00:22:53.000
we wouldn't complain.

00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:56.500
The unit volumes are ideal.

00:22:57.875 --> 00:23:00.000
Our logging yields are enormous.

00:23:01.750 --> 00:23:02.875
Well worth it.

00:23:05.250 --> 00:23:09.750
When you can load a bunch like this,
it's really efficient.

00:23:10.375 --> 00:23:11.000
It fills the hopper fast.

00:23:12.583 --> 00:23:15.125
High volumes
reach the roadside fast.

00:23:17.167 --> 00:23:21.208
Do you prefer clearcutting
a single tree species?

00:23:22.458 --> 00:23:27.208
Absolutely. It's much better than
clearcutting two or three species.

00:23:28.208 --> 00:23:30.833
Then you have to sort the logs.

00:23:34.667 --> 00:23:36.000
I was wondering, because...

00:23:37.167 --> 00:23:39.875
These are labor-saving machines.

00:23:40.167 --> 00:23:43.833
But you still have to work a lot
to make them profitable.

00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:47.000
We're definitely
slaves to the machine, I'm afraid.

00:24:31.125 --> 00:24:33.375
Why did they pile up this wood?

00:24:34.250 --> 00:24:35.500
All this?

00:24:37.583 --> 00:24:39.917
It's for wood fuel.

00:24:40.958 --> 00:24:44.667
So there are logs
from all kinds of trees.

00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:50.542
People think wood fuel pellets
are made of sawmill waste.

00:24:50.750 --> 00:24:51.875
But they're not.

00:24:52.292 --> 00:24:56.417
They log good trees for it.
This oak is fine.

00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:01.208
It could be used for lumber.
Oak is a good hardwood.

00:25:01.708 --> 00:25:03.542
Like this Scots pine.

00:25:03.792 --> 00:25:07.958
It doesn't have parasites or fungus.
And it's straight.

00:25:09.292 --> 00:25:12.458
But it'll be crushed in a big mill.

00:25:13.750 --> 00:25:16.500
To make pellets, or blocks.

00:25:17.292 --> 00:25:19.667
Whatever. It'll be burnt as fuel.

00:25:21.292 --> 00:25:23.458
Is this practice recent?

00:25:24.500 --> 00:25:28.000
It started 10 years ago,
but it's gone wild in the past 5.

00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:31.458
These piles are proliferating.

00:25:31.667 --> 00:25:35.958
They're easy to spot:
piles of unsorted whole trees.

00:25:36.708 --> 00:25:40.708
The point is to maximize the volume
of the wood to be crushed.

00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:44.917
They just feed the mill.
Some mills can grind huge logs.

00:25:46.292 --> 00:25:48.250
How do you feel about it?

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:53.000
It's worse than clearcutting.

00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.333
Biomass fuel is lauded
as renewable energy.

00:25:57.542 --> 00:25:59.583
The trees grow back.

00:25:59.792 --> 00:26:04.250
So this type of logging
gets the "ecological" green label.

00:26:04.917 --> 00:26:09.375
It's good for carbon offsetting,
they say, reducing emissions.

00:26:09.917 --> 00:26:14.083
Used for home heating,
wood replaces oil and coal.

00:26:14.333 --> 00:26:16.500
Those are fossil fuels.

00:26:17.375 --> 00:26:20.375
So this is considered "sustainable,"

00:26:22.292 --> 00:26:24.917
an activity that is 100% green.

00:26:25.125 --> 00:26:26.292
Except that...

00:26:26.500 --> 00:26:30.583
The soil has been destroyed.
Enormous machinery is needed.

00:26:30.875 --> 00:26:34.250
Grinding up pine logs
that are this big

00:26:34.458 --> 00:26:36.000
requires a hell of a lot of energy.

00:26:37.167 --> 00:26:38.167
A huge mill.

00:26:38.833 --> 00:26:44.042
This logging is totally unregulated,
because the trees grow wild.

00:26:44.250 --> 00:26:47.750
We'll always harvest the maximum.
There's no limit.

00:26:47.958 --> 00:26:52.792
And we'll never ask ourselves
whether what we're doing is right,

00:26:53.167 --> 00:26:55.000
economically or ecologically.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:00.833
Whether it's fair to the worker,
because you have to wonder

00:27:01.292 --> 00:27:06.042
whether the guy who did this logging
did it by choice,

00:27:06.250 --> 00:27:08.875
Did anyone explain it to him?

00:27:09.042 --> 00:27:11.667
What was the logger thinking?

00:27:11.917 --> 00:27:16.417
Piling up whole trees, unsorted,
without stripping the branches.

00:27:16.792 --> 00:27:19.875
This is an insult to forestry skills.

00:29:24.125 --> 00:29:25.208
Careful, now!

00:29:26.375 --> 00:29:28.042
That tree's about to fall.

00:29:37.667 --> 00:29:41.958
- Did you see the machines come in?
- Yes. In the early 90s.

00:29:42.542 --> 00:29:43.458
I saw that.

00:29:44.583 --> 00:29:46.667
At first, they were slow.

00:29:48.250 --> 00:29:50.750
They were way too big.

00:29:51.125 --> 00:29:55.750
But they've made them
more maneuverable. Monstrous.

00:29:57.167 --> 00:30:00.958
- Monstrous?
- They gobble up the trees.

00:30:01.292 --> 00:30:04.542
I don't know
if the forest will survive.

00:30:05.458 --> 00:30:08.833
There are so many machines,
and they're so fast.

00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:10.333
No more old growth?

00:30:10.583 --> 00:30:13.000
That's right. If they keep it up...

00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:18.792
There won't be any trees over 50.
That's when they clearcut.

00:30:20.625 --> 00:30:24.625
They say a Douglas fir
is mature at 50, but it's not true.

00:30:24.833 --> 00:30:25.875
Not here.

00:30:29.875 --> 00:30:32.167
The problem with machines...

00:30:32.667 --> 00:30:35.833
A felling machine
costs about ª500,000.

00:30:36.792 --> 00:30:41.375
It's a big investment.
You work for the bank and John Deere.

00:30:42.250 --> 00:30:45.458
- John Deere?
- The big tractor make.

00:30:45.750 --> 00:30:48.125
Well, there are lots of makes.

00:30:50.458 --> 00:30:52.542
A chain saw costs ª1,500.

00:30:54.667 --> 00:30:56.583
It demands more muscle.

00:30:59.042 --> 00:31:03.542
But you don't work for the banker.
That's how I see it.

00:31:08.125 --> 00:31:09.042
Understand?

00:31:09.583 --> 00:31:12.000
You never wanted to go into debt?

00:31:12.208 --> 00:31:14.958
No, I want to sleep without worry.

00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:18.375
I take the time to live.
To have lunch,

00:31:19.250 --> 00:31:20.875
And sleep at night.

00:31:46.375 --> 00:31:49.000
31 years as a lumberjack,
and I still enjoy it.

00:31:50.583 --> 00:31:52.750
I like being in the woods.

00:31:53.042 --> 00:31:53.833
For sure.

00:31:54.792 --> 00:31:56.417
So I stick with it.

00:31:56.625 --> 00:32:00.208
I build log cabins, too.
But I like logging,

00:32:00.833 --> 00:32:02.000
You're alone in the woods.

00:32:03.167 --> 00:32:06.250
Especially
on a beautiful day like this.

00:32:06.458 --> 00:32:09.250
It's not always this nice, I admit.

00:32:10.042 --> 00:32:14.583
- Would anything make you quit?
- It takes muscle.

00:32:15.125 --> 00:32:17.000
It's tough, as you get older.

00:32:17.208 --> 00:32:20.000
Going up and down hills,
lugging the chain saw...

00:32:21.208 --> 00:32:23.625
It may get too hard for me.

00:32:24.167 --> 00:32:25.000
Unfortunately.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.000
If I can do this till the end...
I love being here, alone.

00:32:31.458 --> 00:32:32.375
It's quiet.

00:32:33.917 --> 00:32:36.917
It's a refuge from our crap society.

00:32:37.833 --> 00:32:41.000
The forest
is one of the last peaceful places.

00:32:41.333 --> 00:32:43.417
Nature. Or what's left of it.

00:32:49.583 --> 00:32:51.167
These little branches...

00:32:51.375 --> 00:32:52.708
A nice big tree.

00:33:07.583 --> 00:33:09.083
Well, there we go!

00:33:10.542 --> 00:33:13.000
- That's a nice tree.
- It is.

00:33:16.042 --> 00:33:16.958
How old?

00:33:17.542 --> 00:33:19.958
50, I'd say. Count the rings.

00:33:20.583 --> 00:33:25.375
It's young, for a Douglas fir.
They're centuries old, in the Rockies.

00:33:25.583 --> 00:33:29.708
- Why do they log Douglas fir?
- There was a demand.

00:33:30.417 --> 00:33:34.792
But the market's drying up.
For big Douglas firs, anyhow.

00:33:35.958 --> 00:33:41.000
They buy small and medium-sized fir
for palettes, or framing lumber.

00:33:41.375 --> 00:33:46.500
It's a shame to use high-quality fir
like this for palettes, but they do.

00:33:47.333 --> 00:33:48.417
Unfortunately.

00:33:48.625 --> 00:33:53.333
- It's a waste.
- Yep. Fir is good for framing homes.

00:33:54.167 --> 00:33:56.792
It's even good for finish carpentry.

00:33:57.167 --> 00:33:59.000
Yes, it is a waste.

00:33:59.208 --> 00:34:02.042
40- or 50-year-old fir,
to build a palette.

00:34:03.083 --> 00:34:04.708
I cut a lot of them.

00:34:05.125 --> 00:34:08.042
Firs bigger than that,
sawn into 9-foot lengths.

00:34:08.250 --> 00:34:10.167
The other loggers reject them.

00:34:10.375 --> 00:34:12.875
- Does it bother you?
- Of course.

00:34:13.042 --> 00:34:18.000
I use wood for construction,
and it's a valuable raw material.

00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:21.000
They only use palettes once,
for shipping.

00:34:23.042 --> 00:34:25.917
Then they throw it away. Trash.

00:34:29.875 --> 00:34:33.583
Globalization demands timber.
Containers, shipping...

00:34:42.333 --> 00:34:44.625
That's where our beautiful firs go.

00:35:24.167 --> 00:35:28.375
Lumberjacks and loggers
recognize the blue mark.

00:35:28.583 --> 00:35:31.833
It means the tree has to be protected.

00:35:33.500 --> 00:35:36.042
I'm going to mark this fir.

00:35:37.042 --> 00:35:40.250
It's not the biggest, in this group.

00:35:40.458 --> 00:35:43.208
But it has the thinnest branches.

00:35:43.417 --> 00:35:46.500
So I think this particular tree

00:35:47.125 --> 00:35:50.250
will remain standing the longest.

00:35:50.958 --> 00:35:53.542
And I'll remove a competitor.

00:35:54.750 --> 00:35:57.250
The most aggressive rival.

00:35:57.667 --> 00:36:00.208
It has much thicker branches.

00:36:04.458 --> 00:36:08.458
I think that in the Limousin,

00:36:08.667 --> 00:36:10.917
forest management is recent.

00:36:12.458 --> 00:36:14.583
I was born in Germany.

00:36:15.250 --> 00:36:21.042
I grew up in a region
where the forest had been managed

00:36:21.250 --> 00:36:22.458
for centuries.

00:36:23.708 --> 00:36:27.083
I won't say it's the solution
to everything.

00:36:27.625 --> 00:36:30.292
But it changes the relationship

00:36:30.958 --> 00:36:33.167
with the forest, perhaps.

00:36:33.667 --> 00:36:37.333
I see the forest as a continuity.

00:36:40.917 --> 00:36:45.792
Not as a plantation that
is clearcut at the end of a cycle.

00:36:46.875 --> 00:36:49.208
I see a continuum.

00:36:49.417 --> 00:36:54.000
Here and there,
you cut the trees you need.

00:36:54.875 --> 00:36:58.208
In the long term,
if you tally all you've cut,

00:36:58.417 --> 00:37:03.333
you realize you've logged
the same amount of timber

00:37:04.250 --> 00:37:07.000
as with a clearcut logging method.

00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:11.250
Here's a cherry.

00:37:13.667 --> 00:37:17.208
It's a volunteer. It wasn't planted.

00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:20.167
It's already nice and big.

00:37:23.125 --> 00:37:25.750
Right now, cherry doesn't sell.

00:37:26.875 --> 00:37:28.000
But that's okay.

00:37:28.208 --> 00:37:33.083
We can wait until cherrywood
comes back into fashion.

00:37:33.667 --> 00:37:35.458
We'll sell it then.

00:37:36.292 --> 00:37:39.458
As long as it's standing,
it's growing.

00:37:39.667 --> 00:37:43.958
Is it important to ignore fashions
in forest management?

00:37:44.583 --> 00:37:46.708
Yes. Fashions change.

00:37:47.083 --> 00:37:48.167
Trees remain.

00:37:48.750 --> 00:37:52.542
If you have a little bit
of all kinds of trees,

00:37:52.750 --> 00:37:54.792
you can meet fashion demands.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.000
It's simply practical.

00:37:59.875 --> 00:38:02.083
Trees that aren't cut grow.

00:38:09.292 --> 00:38:10.542
Here's another.

00:38:20.542 --> 00:38:21.792
In the understory,

00:38:23.042 --> 00:38:25.125
there are beech saplings.

00:38:25.875 --> 00:38:27.417
A small Douglas fir...

00:38:27.667 --> 00:38:28.917
And a chestnut.

00:38:29.375 --> 00:38:31.292
They're all volunteers.

00:38:32.625 --> 00:38:34.625
If I remove that tree,

00:38:34.833 --> 00:38:38.583
the saplings in the understory
will get more sun.

00:38:38.833 --> 00:38:40.583
They'll keep growing.

00:38:40.792 --> 00:38:43.167
And maybe, in 30 or 40 years,

00:38:43.500 --> 00:38:46.417
there will be a young tree here

00:38:46.792 --> 00:38:48.875
with a big future ahead of it.

00:38:50.375 --> 00:38:54.750
It cost us nothing,
so if it fails,

00:38:55.042 --> 00:38:56.583
it doesn't matter!

00:38:57.333 --> 00:39:01.500
Usually, you see
single-species plantations here.

00:39:01.708 --> 00:39:06.917
The trees are all the same age.
Why is the understory important?

00:39:07.625 --> 00:39:11.333
It's important for two reasons.

00:39:11.625 --> 00:39:16.917
It's important, on the one hand,
to ensure the forest's future.

00:39:17.625 --> 00:39:19.958
If you don't want to clearcut,

00:39:20.125 --> 00:39:22.958
you have to renew the growth.

00:39:24.542 --> 00:39:27.250
You can't let the trees grow forever.

00:39:27.500 --> 00:39:30.667
At some point,
they get too old, and fall.

00:39:30.958 --> 00:39:34.125
They need room to grow, too.

00:39:36.250 --> 00:39:41.000
The saplings in the understory
below the adult trees

00:39:42.042 --> 00:39:43.583
are like insurance.

00:39:44.500 --> 00:39:46.667
You don't have to worry, really.

00:39:48.958 --> 00:39:53.417
The regeneration happens naturally,
one way or another,

00:39:53.792 --> 00:39:55.208
if you give it time.

00:40:03.167 --> 00:40:06.000
I'm often told
hardwood trees are worthless.

00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:10.375
Many lumber mills
live on hardwood alone.

00:40:10.792 --> 00:40:15.083
If hardwood trees were worthless,
they'd be out of business.

00:40:15.292 --> 00:40:17.500
The most expensive oak

00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:21.208
is worth ten times more,

00:40:21.750 --> 00:40:22.917
per cubic meter,

00:40:23.292 --> 00:40:25.625
than the most expensive fir.

00:40:36.167 --> 00:40:36.958
Come see!

00:40:41.917 --> 00:40:43.042
A fawn!

00:40:49.167 --> 00:40:52.750
Foresters usually curse deer,
don't they?

00:40:53.500 --> 00:40:56.958
They graze on the trees
in the plantation.

00:40:58.958 --> 00:41:00.167
I don't know...

00:41:00.750 --> 00:41:05.667
I think the fawn is happy here,
and won't hurt the forest.

00:41:06.250 --> 00:41:09.875
It's fine to have deer,
as long as there aren't too many.

00:41:13.125 --> 00:41:16.750
Deer do much less damage
in a natural forest

00:41:17.167 --> 00:41:18.958
than in a plantation.

00:41:24.250 --> 00:41:25.542
A living forest

00:41:27.458 --> 00:41:30.542
is open to many
who love the forest.

00:41:31.917 --> 00:41:35.292
Foresters, hunters, hikers...

00:41:36.375 --> 00:41:40.292
Mushroom-gatherers, bird-watchers,

00:41:40.708 --> 00:41:42.000
botany-lovers...

00:41:43.875 --> 00:41:48.417
Everybody finds something interesting
in a forest.

00:41:49.750 --> 00:41:52.000
I like that idea,

00:41:52.208 --> 00:41:56.500
that the forest is not used
only to produce timber.

00:41:56.875 --> 00:42:01.250
Timber is what pays
for forest management.

00:42:01.833 --> 00:42:06.250
But the collateral benefits,
so to speak,

00:42:06.458 --> 00:42:07.625
are many.

00:42:08.625 --> 00:42:09.875
They don't pay.

00:42:10.375 --> 00:42:14.708
But maybe they're essential,
nevertheless.

00:43:13.958 --> 00:43:15.167
A wood factory?

00:43:15.375 --> 00:43:17.208
Let's Save Our Forests

00:43:18.833 --> 00:43:21.375
We must not give up.
We must hang on.

00:43:22.292 --> 00:43:24.000
The situation is serious.

00:43:24.208 --> 00:43:27.208
We must not be afraid
to face the problems.

00:43:27.417 --> 00:43:30.167
Too often, I hear people saying

00:43:30.375 --> 00:43:31.292
"What can we do?"

00:43:31.958 --> 00:43:36.417
"When the Douglas fir is mature,
it has to be cut."

00:43:36.625 --> 00:43:38.250
No! Stop it!

00:43:38.458 --> 00:43:41.500
There are alternatives
to clearcutting.

00:43:41.875 --> 00:43:45.417
We convinced the owner
of a fir plantation

00:43:45.625 --> 00:43:48.583
to diversify,
and let other trees grow.

00:43:48.792 --> 00:43:50.625
And it works! It can be done.

00:43:51.375 --> 00:43:53.208
What unites us

00:43:53.458 --> 00:43:56.833
is collective action
to save the forests we love.

00:43:57.042 --> 00:44:00.250
Let's conserve them. Onward!

00:44:00.750 --> 00:44:04.333
Long live the Morvan
and its diverse forests!

00:44:04.792 --> 00:44:08.500
Let's keep up the fight
to conserve as much as possible.

00:44:09.167 --> 00:44:10.333
Thank you all.

00:44:46.375 --> 00:44:50.125
It was a beautiful forest,
with a mixture of trees.

00:44:50.458 --> 00:44:55.292
The timber could very well
have been thinned and sold.

00:44:55.792 --> 00:44:58.875
They didn't need to clearcut.

00:44:59.208 --> 00:45:03.417
You get a good picture
of before and after here.

00:45:03.667 --> 00:45:06.125
They've already planted rows of fir.

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:13.875
The Morvan was not covered
with evergreen forest.

00:45:14.208 --> 00:45:17.208
There were
mixed pine and beech forests.

00:45:18.208 --> 00:45:21.458
Not Douglas fir plantations like this.

00:45:22.667 --> 00:45:26.333
The institutional investors
invaded and took over.

00:45:26.667 --> 00:45:30.417
The banks,
the big insurance companies...

00:45:30.667 --> 00:45:35.458
They came to the Morvan
to make it profitable.

00:45:35.667 --> 00:45:40.333
They cut down the hardwood trees
to put in fir plantations.

00:45:40.542 --> 00:45:42.542
- They're still doing it.
- Yes.

00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:51.917
Look at that. See?

00:45:53.750 --> 00:45:57.500
The worst thing
is that people get used to it.

00:46:03.083 --> 00:46:06.083
I come from a very poor family.

00:46:07.458 --> 00:46:09.792
My parents had six children.

00:46:10.208 --> 00:46:14.542
We had money problems.
Some of us still do.

00:46:15.250 --> 00:46:16.792
Yes, we were poor.

00:46:17.417 --> 00:46:22.417
But we had the forest. Nature.
Firewood rights. A vegetable garden.

00:46:22.917 --> 00:46:24.292
We could survive.

00:46:24.500 --> 00:46:27.500
I have wonderful memories
of childhood,

00:46:27.708 --> 00:46:29.875
even though money was tight.

00:46:30.250 --> 00:46:33.542
My father used to take me out
to cut firewood.

00:46:34.083 --> 00:46:36.583
In the forest, in the morning.

00:46:36.833 --> 00:46:41.000
I have amazing memories
of misty mornings, cold mornings.

00:46:42.208 --> 00:46:45.625
Going into the forest.
It was so peaceful.

00:46:45.917 --> 00:46:49.417
Those memories I've kept
have motivated me

00:46:49.750 --> 00:46:51.500
to defend the forest.

00:46:59.333 --> 00:47:02.458
We founded our group
to team up with Autun

00:47:02.917 --> 00:47:04.708
and Burgundy Conservation.

00:47:04.958 --> 00:47:09.792
We bought this 270-hectare parcel,
and we own it collectively.

00:47:10.708 --> 00:47:13.500
We had to save it from a clearcut.

00:47:13.708 --> 00:47:15.750
But we want to grow timber.

00:47:15.958 --> 00:47:19.375
Our goal is to buy forests
to show it's feasible

00:47:19.583 --> 00:47:22.375
to manage them sustainably
and economically.

00:47:22.625 --> 00:47:26.625
It gives us all what we hoped for.
The owners are happy.

00:47:26.833 --> 00:47:29.958
Nature, biodiversity, and the scenery
are preserved.

00:47:30.125 --> 00:47:31.667
No more conflicts!

00:47:31.875 --> 00:47:35.917
Here in the Morvan,
we're plagued with conflicts.

00:47:36.083 --> 00:47:41.000
People get fed up.
Nobody warns them before a clearcut.

00:47:41.208 --> 00:47:44.000
We see, when we go out
with our forestry co-op,

00:47:45.167 --> 00:47:46.000
that we manage the forest.

00:47:47.167 --> 00:47:51.708
I've never heard a member
yelp about one tree being cut.

00:49:35.125 --> 00:49:37.917
This is the Gascon Landes forest.

00:49:38.083 --> 00:49:41.542
It has some special characteristics.

00:49:41.750 --> 00:49:45.917
The main one is the soil.
It's predominantly sandy.

00:49:46.375 --> 00:49:47.917
And the climate...

00:49:48.083 --> 00:49:52.542
For 150 years, this land
has been a source of timber.

00:49:52.750 --> 00:49:57.250
Elaborate methods were used:
it's intensive, but in a good way.

00:49:57.458 --> 00:50:00.375
We grow maritime pine.
It is a local species.

00:50:01.042 --> 00:50:04.333
It grew wild here,
before it was planted.

00:50:04.542 --> 00:50:08.833
Napoleon III decided to develop
a maritime-pine industry.

00:50:09.250 --> 00:50:14.083
It added value to this land,
which wasn't worth much.

00:50:14.750 --> 00:50:17.500
It was poorly drained, wasted.

00:50:17.875 --> 00:50:20.708
He instituted a massive reforestation.

00:50:20.917 --> 00:50:24.500
Now we have a 2.5-million-acre stand,

00:50:24.958 --> 00:50:27.500
one of Europe's most productive.

00:50:39.458 --> 00:50:43.167
We tried to diversify
our tree species.

00:50:43.500 --> 00:50:46.708
We tried dozens,
from around the world.

00:50:47.625 --> 00:50:51.875
But over 80% of the stand
is maritime pine.

00:50:52.458 --> 00:50:56.958
It is and will remain the king
of the Gascony forest.

00:51:04.583 --> 00:51:06.375
The turnover is fast now.

00:51:06.667 --> 00:51:09.833
We used to log the pines
after 60 years,

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:11.333
20 or 30 years ago.

00:51:11.542 --> 00:51:15.000
Now, we're cutting
when the trees are 40 or 45.

00:51:15.208 --> 00:51:17.667
These pines are cut earlier,

00:51:17.875 --> 00:51:21.542
when they're 30 or 35 years old.

00:51:21.833 --> 00:51:25.167
We cut them earlier,
because they grow faster.

00:51:25.417 --> 00:51:29.833
And certain climate events
must be taken into account.

00:51:30.500 --> 00:51:35.833
Everyone remembers the big storms
in 1999 and 2009.

00:51:36.042 --> 00:51:40.417
We take those trends into account
to minimize our risks,

00:51:40.625 --> 00:51:43.625
and invest with those risks in mind.

00:52:51.583 --> 00:52:54.625
What do you think of this landscape?

00:52:55.917 --> 00:52:57.042
It's mine.

00:52:57.667 --> 00:52:58.917
Do you like it?

00:53:03.625 --> 00:53:06.625
It seems monotonous,
if you're ignorant.

00:53:06.833 --> 00:53:09.333
But if you've studied it closely,

00:53:09.583 --> 00:53:10.958
each tree is unique.

00:53:11.125 --> 00:53:13.000
Each tree
speaks to me differently.

00:53:23.917 --> 00:53:27.042
You feel like an army general,
with your troops

00:53:28.167 --> 00:53:29.792
lined up perfectly.

00:53:33.625 --> 00:53:38.417
Since it's so tidy and straight,
the brush can be cleared

00:53:38.625 --> 00:53:39.625
very easily.

00:53:42.042 --> 00:53:45.875
We clear between rows
to get rid of competition.

00:53:46.042 --> 00:53:48.292
The pines get all the food.

00:53:53.958 --> 00:53:58.500
Did forestry management change
after those big storms?

00:53:58.708 --> 00:54:02.833
After the storm,
there was a reforestation effort.

00:54:04.375 --> 00:54:06.667
According to the same method?

00:54:06.917 --> 00:54:09.167
This is the lesson we learned.

00:54:09.375 --> 00:54:13.583
On the whole, all we did
was plantations.

00:54:15.792 --> 00:54:18.000
We planted seedlings

00:54:18.500 --> 00:54:21.667
that were selected for high quality.

00:54:23.292 --> 00:54:27.042
Note that there are
practically no dead trees.

00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:31.500
So the birds don't have
anywhere to nest.

00:54:32.958 --> 00:54:37.042
Ecologically, we keep a low profile.

00:54:37.250 --> 00:54:39.917
Without nests, we have no birds.

00:54:41.167 --> 00:54:44.083
You may think it's too hot now,

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:47.708
and the birds are just roosting.

00:54:48.208 --> 00:54:49.000
But there aren't any.

00:54:52.042 --> 00:54:55.917
There's a technique
called "Pro Silva."

00:54:56.458 --> 00:55:01.208
You need about four or five
dead trees per hectare

00:55:02.042 --> 00:55:05.708
where the birds
can build their nests.

00:55:07.333 --> 00:55:12.250
A harmonious system develops,
nature and the animals.

00:55:13.542 --> 00:55:15.333
What do you think of it?

00:55:15.542 --> 00:55:17.375
In theory, it's ideal.

00:55:17.917 --> 00:55:20.542
But economically, it didn't work.

00:55:26.083 --> 00:55:30.917
Nature made it so maritime pine
prospered here.

00:55:31.542 --> 00:55:36.375
It was natural. We haven't found
anything better, so we grow pine.

00:55:37.500 --> 00:55:38.333
In rows...

00:55:39.917 --> 00:55:41.750
We cultivate the soil.

00:55:43.125 --> 00:55:46.083
I think we used fertilizer here.

00:55:46.292 --> 00:55:49.042
That's why the trees are healthy.

00:55:51.417 --> 00:55:55.167
Do you have to spray the trees
with chemicals?

00:55:56.542 --> 00:55:58.375
Chemical treatments...

00:56:00.833 --> 00:56:05.500
Use of the products
is restricted more and more each day.

00:56:08.292 --> 00:56:12.917
Our ancestors created this forest,
and we kept it alive.

00:56:13.250 --> 00:56:16.500
Obviously, it has been
managed wisely.

00:56:17.125 --> 00:56:20.042
It's nobody's business what we use.

00:56:20.250 --> 00:56:25.292
Why the hell regulate us,
when we do things properly?

00:56:25.917 --> 00:56:28.042
So far, so good.
Why change it?

00:57:12.042 --> 00:57:17.208
This is one of the parcels of land
ravaged by the storm.

00:57:17.458 --> 00:57:22.208
Nearly every pine was blown down.

00:57:23.167 --> 00:57:28.417
A few survivors were left,
so they could keep growing.

00:57:29.500 --> 00:57:33.000
It gives us an idea
of what the landscape was like

00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:37.000
in the early 20th century,
with the open moors.

00:57:39.667 --> 00:57:43.625
The fields were fertilized
only with sheep manure.

00:57:44.167 --> 00:57:46.292
The soil was poor.

00:57:46.500 --> 00:57:49.750
When they developed
the timber industry,

00:57:49.958 --> 00:57:55.167
the tree growers fought shepherds
for the use of the land.

00:57:59.333 --> 00:58:03.750
They say the sheep ate the pine,
but it was other way around.

00:58:03.958 --> 00:58:05.750
There, the story ends.

00:58:12.417 --> 00:58:14.000
Those big storms...

00:58:14.792 --> 00:58:16.583
The experience, for me...

00:58:17.333 --> 00:58:20.500
For everyone,
it was pretty traumatic.

00:58:20.750 --> 00:58:23.750
But I wasn't managing a forest then.

00:58:23.958 --> 00:58:28.125
I'd only officially owned my land
for two years.

00:58:28.333 --> 00:58:30.250
It was family property.

00:58:30.458 --> 00:58:32.417
I hadn't chosen forestry.

00:58:33.125 --> 00:58:37.750
My parents managed it,
but they gradually contracted out

00:58:38.333 --> 00:58:42.417
to the big logging business
in the area, the cooperative.

00:58:44.625 --> 00:58:48.875
I didn't think much about it.
Then the storm hit.

00:58:49.042 --> 00:58:51.833
Such great areas were devastated.

00:58:52.458 --> 00:58:55.792
I had to wonder
about management methods.

00:58:56.042 --> 00:58:58.667
That's when I started to learn.

00:58:58.875 --> 00:59:03.375
I discovered there were other methods
being used elsewhere.

00:59:04.750 --> 00:59:08.875
There were a few timid efforts
in the Landes forest.

00:59:09.042 --> 00:59:12.125
I heard about Pro Silva management.

00:59:13.750 --> 00:59:16.083
I met Jacques Hazera,

00:59:16.292 --> 00:59:20.792
who has been managing his land
that way for many years.

00:59:21.792 --> 00:59:24.625
Mainly, an alternative was needed.

00:59:25.042 --> 00:59:29.375
It's clear that the more
logging and cultivation we do,

00:59:29.583 --> 00:59:33.500
with heavy equipment,
in this forest...

00:59:33.708 --> 00:59:38.167
Logging has become a huge industry,
just like all farming.

00:59:38.750 --> 00:59:41.667
The machines they use are monsters.

00:59:41.875 --> 00:59:45.500
The soil here is fragile.
There's very little humus.

00:59:45.708 --> 00:59:49.208
Every time they drive
a big machine through,

00:59:49.417 --> 00:59:51.417
it churns everything up.

00:59:51.958 --> 00:59:55.292
Even if you're not a specialist,

00:59:56.458 --> 01:00:00.708
you can't help but think
that if we left the trees alone,

01:00:00.917 --> 01:00:03.875
they'd be stronger,
with sturdier roots.

01:00:04.458 --> 01:00:05.833
That's what I thought.

01:00:18.958 --> 01:00:22.375
There are pines growing everywhere,
different sizes.

01:00:22.583 --> 01:00:24.000
Some are taller than the grass.

01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:28.167
There are lots of tiny ones, too.

01:00:28.375 --> 01:00:31.458
They're still under the moor-grass
and fern.

01:00:31.667 --> 01:00:34.917
But they're looking
for a spot in the sun.

01:00:35.667 --> 01:00:38.000
Simply letting Nature go to work

01:00:39.667 --> 01:00:42.583
to regenerate the trees
saves money.

01:00:42.792 --> 01:00:45.958
And it also saves the life
of the soil.

01:00:46.375 --> 01:00:49.458
The carpet of plants growing here

01:00:50.125 --> 01:00:53.958
is one of the things
that structures the soil.

01:00:54.292 --> 01:00:57.708
It holds the ground in place
for the trees

01:00:58.250 --> 01:01:00.250
so they're not isolated.

01:01:00.458 --> 01:01:03.000
They can hook their roots into it.

01:01:03.542 --> 01:01:06.875
And there's also a birch
growing in the middle.

01:01:07.042 --> 01:01:08.167
Little oaks...

01:01:08.375 --> 01:01:11.083
There's lots of birch.
It likes light.

01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:15.250
But it's obvious
the trees are stronger

01:01:15.458 --> 01:01:17.833
when they're together.

01:01:18.208 --> 01:01:21.750
They're like us.
A forest is a society!

01:01:23.750 --> 01:01:27.333
We'll see what happens
in the years to come.

01:02:32.667 --> 01:02:36.042
What kind of valorization do we want

01:02:36.875 --> 01:02:38.125
for this forest?

01:02:38.750 --> 01:02:42.375
In the long term, we must be able

01:02:42.583 --> 01:02:46.583
to replace all fossil fuels

01:02:47.417 --> 01:02:50.417
with the cellulose from these trees.

01:02:51.333 --> 01:02:53.667
I believe in it, profoundly.

01:02:54.292 --> 01:02:56.417
And so do industrial investors.

01:02:57.000 --> 01:03:00.667
But that is how,
in all sorts of different fields,

01:03:01.458 --> 01:03:06.125
we spread France's innovative,
optimistic economic model.

01:03:06.958 --> 01:03:10.375
It is not because we mechanize
or automate,

01:03:10.625 --> 01:03:15.125
it is not because we modernize
an industry, that jobs are lost.

01:03:15.500 --> 01:03:17.000
It's the opposite!

01:03:19.333 --> 01:03:22.417
We must stop trembling
in fear of progress.

01:03:23.208 --> 01:03:24.000
It must be meaningful.

01:03:24.000 --> 01:03:27.583
Fearlessly, we must invest.

01:03:27.792 --> 01:03:31.708
We must make changes,
train people, and accept the fact

01:03:31.917 --> 01:03:34.417
that the future will be different.

01:03:36.958 --> 01:03:39.042
Vosges Forest

01:05:05.458 --> 01:05:06.208
Pine, 40!

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:36.583
Pine, 35!

01:05:48.250 --> 01:05:49.833
- Pine, 45!
- Pine, 45.

01:06:16.750 --> 01:06:18.750
Pine, 40!

01:06:23.583 --> 01:06:25.417
Fayard, 75!

01:06:28.042 --> 01:06:31.708
- What's "fayard"?
- HÃetre. (Beech)

01:06:32.167 --> 01:06:33.000
It's old French.

01:06:33.000 --> 01:06:36.542
It's a better word, in the forest.

01:06:36.958 --> 01:06:40.333
It's easier to hear than hÃetre,
from afar.

01:06:45.792 --> 01:06:47.708
Spruce, 70!

01:06:58.125 --> 01:06:59.875
Pine, 35!

01:07:00.083 --> 01:07:02.708
What do you use the hammer for?

01:07:04.583 --> 01:07:06.500
I strip some bark off,

01:07:06.750 --> 01:07:09.500
with the axe blade.

01:07:10.625 --> 01:07:15.208
I turn it over to the hammer side,
where there's a mark.

01:07:17.500 --> 01:07:22.250
It says "AF" in Gothic letters.
"Administration ForestiÁere."

01:07:23.833 --> 01:07:28.292
I mark the trunk of the tree
where I stripped the bark.

01:07:29.292 --> 01:07:30.542
Why do you do that?

01:07:30.750 --> 01:07:34.667
When the loggers come in
to cut the tree,

01:07:35.583 --> 01:07:39.083
When the cutting area is sold,
they come in.

01:07:39.333 --> 01:07:42.250
They can see the mark
from far away.

01:07:42.458 --> 01:07:47.042
This mark is on file
with the court authorities.

01:07:49.167 --> 01:07:53.667
Counterfeiting the mark
is punished like counterfeiting money!

01:07:56.542 --> 01:07:58.958
Pine, 30, and pine, 45!

01:08:03.125 --> 01:08:04.458
Pine, 40!

01:08:05.125 --> 01:08:06.417
Pine, 40.

01:08:08.917 --> 01:08:11.500
And pine, 50. Repeat that?

01:08:15.042 --> 01:08:17.708
Pine, 40! Repeated, for Jean.

01:08:30.000 --> 01:08:36.083
Since we started the survey,
I've hammered 23.91 cubic meters.

01:08:36.542 --> 01:08:37.750
Almost 24.

01:08:38.750 --> 01:08:42.417
Everything is catalogued,
by species and diameter.

01:08:44.458 --> 01:08:48.125
A strange thing happened
a few years ago.

01:08:49.875 --> 01:08:53.333
An agency
called the National Forest Inventory

01:08:53.542 --> 01:08:58.167
is assigned to estimate
France's timber and forest resources,

01:08:59.000 --> 01:09:01.917
and calculate its potential worth.

01:09:03.667 --> 01:09:08.250
They issued some figures,
I don't remember exactly what.

01:09:09.250 --> 01:09:12.667
Other government agencies
used the figures

01:09:12.875 --> 01:09:17.958
to set limits on timber cutting,
so many million cubic meters.

01:09:18.125 --> 01:09:21.708
We enforced those ceilings
for a few years.

01:09:21.917 --> 01:09:23.875
Finally, someone realized

01:09:24.167 --> 01:09:27.000
the inventory figures
were totally wrong.

01:09:27.208 --> 01:09:30.000
The cutting ceilings
were way too high.

01:09:33.042 --> 01:09:37.042
There's always pressure
to cut down more trees.

01:09:38.125 --> 01:09:42.042
Then it's our duty to resist
the pressure, if we can.

01:09:42.250 --> 01:09:45.458
But we can only resist
up to a certain point.

01:09:51.833 --> 01:09:56.500
Maurice, has the Vosges Forest
changed much in your time?

01:10:00.042 --> 01:10:02.500
Yes. Yes, it has.

01:10:04.625 --> 01:10:09.125
In my opinion, I think we see
much fewer big trees.

01:10:10.042 --> 01:10:12.417
Big pines or oaks.

01:10:12.625 --> 01:10:15.500
Especially in the flatlands,
near Darney.

01:10:15.708 --> 01:10:19.458
It's the same in the mountains.
Fewer big trees.

01:10:19.708 --> 01:10:22.875
For pine, the optimal diameter
is 50 cm.

01:10:23.042 --> 01:10:27.667
Any bigger, and I'll put it in quotes,
"we're losing money."

01:10:29.000 --> 01:10:31.750
Does that bother you?

01:10:32.125 --> 01:10:35.667
Of course it bothers me. Sure.

01:10:37.458 --> 01:10:41.208
We weren't raised
to think that way. I wasn't.

01:10:42.208 --> 01:10:46.000
I'm exaggerating, but only a little.

01:10:46.292 --> 01:10:49.833
They think of the forest
as a wood factory.

01:10:50.958 --> 01:10:54.000
This isn't how I envisioned
my career,

01:10:54.208 --> 01:10:57.083
when I started out
as a forestry official.

01:11:04.667 --> 01:11:08.167
Has the sector you supervise
gotten bigger?

01:11:09.500 --> 01:11:12.000
Since I started out, yes, it has.

01:11:12.000 --> 01:11:14.917
It has tripled in size.

01:11:19.042 --> 01:11:21.458
We spend more time on the road

01:11:21.833 --> 01:11:24.708
and in front of our computers, now.

01:11:27.583 --> 01:11:28.917
It changes your life.

01:11:33.875 --> 01:11:37.292
We spend that much less time
in the forest.

01:11:38.500 --> 01:11:42.333
A forester who spends
less and less time in the woods...

01:11:43.833 --> 01:11:44.750
It's weird!

01:12:20.958 --> 01:12:26.625
That's where the game warden
wants to build a little shelter.

01:12:27.417 --> 01:12:31.583
I'll mark a few more, to be removed.

01:12:32.417 --> 01:12:34.333
Then it's the usual.

01:12:35.833 --> 01:12:37.500
That one's grade C.

01:12:37.708 --> 01:12:39.042
Will you be able to...?

01:12:39.250 --> 01:12:43.333
When you see a thick one,
grade A or B, cut those.

01:12:43.542 --> 01:12:46.333
We'll put all the rest in Grade C.

01:12:46.708 --> 01:12:49.333
And some are for
Braunwurfe sawmill.

01:12:50.417 --> 01:12:53.250
There will be a lot more
in section 40.

01:13:12.417 --> 01:13:16.000
25 years ago, when I signed
my contract as a forestry official,

01:13:17.167 --> 01:13:20.708
the paper I signed,
after I passed the exam,

01:13:21.667 --> 01:13:24.125
printed out my duties clearly:

01:13:24.333 --> 01:13:29.000
"An ONF forestry official must ensure
the survival of the public forest."

01:13:29.208 --> 01:13:32.250
That means our top priority

01:13:32.667 --> 01:13:36.375
is to make sure the trees
are regenerated,

01:13:36.583 --> 01:13:42.708
that they are renewed.
Not to make a profit for the ONF!

01:13:43.458 --> 01:13:44.750
There's a difference!

01:13:45.042 --> 01:13:49.458
The big problem I have
with the National Forest Office

01:13:50.083 --> 01:13:54.292
is that we finance our budget
with timber sales.

01:13:54.625 --> 01:13:58.417
The forest, however,
produces more than timber.

01:13:58.625 --> 01:14:01.583
Timber is just
its quantifiable product.

01:14:01.792 --> 01:14:02.708
It's money.

01:14:03.125 --> 01:14:07.458
But it does lots of other things.
It fixes carbon.

01:14:08.667 --> 01:14:11.000
The forest soaks up water
like a sponge.

01:14:12.167 --> 01:14:16.875
All the sources supplying
our drinking water are in the forest.

01:14:17.708 --> 01:14:20.250
One hectare (2.5 acres)
of forest

01:14:21.458 --> 01:14:25.917
stores 100 times more water
than one hectare of farmland.

01:14:26.333 --> 01:14:29.250
It's a magnificent
freshwater reservoir.

01:14:29.500 --> 01:14:31.917
But we don't get paid for it.

01:14:45.792 --> 01:14:49.292
When I come here,
I can't help but think...

01:14:51.417 --> 01:14:54.542
my co-worker, Alain.

01:14:55.125 --> 01:14:58.125
My co-worker Alain committed suicide

01:15:01.292 --> 01:15:02.000
3 years ago.

01:15:06.083 --> 01:15:08.292
The thing is...

01:15:09.125 --> 01:15:14.292
Since 2002, our agency has been
reorganized, restructured many times.

01:15:14.500 --> 01:15:17.625
The reorganization in 2002
was violent.

01:15:19.000 --> 01:15:23.750
For all of the personnel,
but especially the forest officials.

01:15:23.958 --> 01:15:28.417
The hardships trickle down
to our maintenance services.

01:15:29.708 --> 01:15:33.000
About 3 years ago,
our original crew...

01:15:35.917 --> 01:15:38.208
The Paris office decided

01:15:38.833 --> 01:15:41.833
to break up the work crew, the team.

01:15:42.500 --> 01:15:46.917
Alain had always been assigned
to a certain forest district.

01:15:47.083 --> 01:15:49.042
For decades!

01:15:51.958 --> 01:15:55.292
The communal budget lost funding
for his position,

01:15:55.500 --> 01:15:58.750
and he got laid off,
waiting for another crew...

01:15:59.125 --> 01:16:00.583
He couldn't stand it.

01:16:00.792 --> 01:16:03.417
So, one fine morning,

01:16:03.958 --> 01:16:08.458
in his cabin, he took his revolver
and shot himself in the head.

01:16:09.958 --> 01:16:13.917
You have to be tough, to stand this!
Or flexible...

01:16:14.125 --> 01:16:17.667
Or you could stand it,
if you didn't give a damn!

01:16:18.333 --> 01:16:21.583
Some guys,
it just rolls off their back.

01:16:21.958 --> 01:16:24.125
He doesn't care what happens.

01:16:24.333 --> 01:16:27.250
But someone with a commitment,

01:16:27.458 --> 01:16:29.000
who has loved this for decades...

01:16:29.000 --> 01:16:35.125
Everybody who works in the forest
likes to keep an eye on it.

01:16:35.458 --> 01:16:39.458
We watch the trees growing,
see if the thinning worked,

01:16:39.667 --> 01:16:42.042
To see the forest developing.

01:16:43.542 --> 01:16:48.083
We become attached to it.
It's almost like our garden.

01:16:48.292 --> 01:16:51.000
We don't own it.
But we leave a trace on it.

01:16:52.167 --> 01:16:55.958
Alain couldn't stand
this big upset in his life.

01:16:57.750 --> 01:17:02.458
Since 2002, it's a shame to say,
we have our own...

01:17:03.875 --> 01:17:06.250
We have our own accounting ledger.

01:17:06.458 --> 01:17:10.208
We've had more than 35 suicides
in our ranks.

01:17:18.667 --> 01:17:20.000
They say it's not their fault.

01:17:23.042 --> 01:17:26.375
You feel like taking them
and shaking them.

01:17:26.583 --> 01:17:28.833
"Look what you did!"

01:17:29.292 --> 01:17:30.000
Finally, in the end,

01:17:31.417 --> 01:17:35.250
the crew was broken up,
despite what happened!

01:17:36.000 --> 01:17:37.958
That's what baffled me.

01:17:39.667 --> 01:17:43.667
They could have... Well...
Anyway...

01:17:44.125 --> 01:17:45.375
It still hurts.

01:18:01.625 --> 01:18:03.833
The Centre region!

01:18:05.000 --> 01:18:06.292
The Nord region!

01:18:06.542 --> 01:18:07.292
Picardie!

01:18:08.125 --> 01:18:09.208
Loire Valley!

01:18:09.625 --> 01:18:10.375
Brittany!

01:18:10.792 --> 01:18:11.667
Normandy!

01:18:13.000 --> 01:18:14.083
Aquitaine!

01:18:54.750 --> 01:18:59.542
The National Forest Office directors
are meeting to discuss a proposal

01:18:59.792 --> 01:19:02.375
for "Goals and Performance."

01:19:10.708 --> 01:19:13.000
The draft proposal, so far,

01:19:14.542 --> 01:19:17.833
fails to challenge
the Forest Office business model.

01:19:18.500 --> 01:19:22.708
The Office is still financed
chiefly by timber sales.

01:19:23.542 --> 01:19:26.833
That is, a privatization of our jobs,

01:19:27.292 --> 01:19:28.958
a loss of job security.

01:19:30.208 --> 01:19:33.125
The answer from our administrators?

01:19:33.375 --> 01:19:36.042
"We'll sell the public forests!"

01:19:41.542 --> 01:19:45.500
We are here today
because in 1964 and '66,

01:19:46.250 --> 01:19:50.958
our elders fought to maintain
our rights as forestry civil servants.

01:19:51.958 --> 01:19:54.708
Today, clearly,

01:19:55.083 --> 01:19:57.375
we are under attack again,

01:19:58.167 --> 01:19:59.708
by the ONF.

01:20:10.042 --> 01:20:11.208
On the podium?

01:20:18.375 --> 01:20:22.875
Ladies and gentlemen,
I understand that, for ten years,

01:20:23.625 --> 01:20:25.958
you have had personnel cuts.

01:20:27.792 --> 01:20:30.667
All the decisions and announcements

01:20:30.958 --> 01:20:33.542
hint at these personnel cuts.

01:20:34.292 --> 01:20:38.083
I understand the atmosphere
of mistrust that reigns.

01:20:40.250 --> 01:20:44.750
But I think we can build trust.
Trust is not unanimity.

01:20:45.042 --> 01:20:48.583
Trust is not "You're right."
It is not demagoguery.

01:20:48.792 --> 01:20:52.667
Trust is knowing
that a promise is a promise.

01:20:53.042 --> 01:20:56.875
One year ago, I told you, right here,

01:20:57.042 --> 01:20:59.000
that I wanted, by 2016...

01:21:00.167 --> 01:21:03.000
Dubreuil, resign!
Dubreuil, resign!

01:21:04.333 --> 01:21:06.042
Dubreuil, resign!

01:21:10.667 --> 01:21:12.250
You had better know...

01:21:12.875 --> 01:21:14.792
Listen, you had better know

01:21:15.167 --> 01:21:20.417
that forestry officials
all over France are exasperated!

01:21:21.375 --> 01:21:26.042
In 2002, your government instituted
a catastrophic reform.

01:21:27.917 --> 01:21:29.958
We're good, polite boys.

01:21:30.125 --> 01:21:33.792
But our brothers and sisters
are in a state

01:21:34.000 --> 01:21:36.375
of utter hopelessness.

01:21:36.583 --> 01:21:38.833
You'll pay for it someday!

01:21:39.042 --> 01:21:41.500
Fine speeches won't be enough.

01:21:41.750 --> 01:21:43.167
Who will believe

01:21:43.708 --> 01:21:47.000
your plan to sell public forests
is to fund our local jobs?

01:21:47.000 --> 01:21:49.417
We don't believe you.

01:21:49.625 --> 01:21:53.083
French forestry today,
yesterday, and tomorrow

01:21:53.333 --> 01:21:55.667
is highly skilled personnel!

01:21:56.167 --> 01:21:59.458
We will be essential
to fighting climate change!

01:21:59.875 --> 01:22:03.708
Foresters in the countryside
are totally exasperated.

01:22:04.333 --> 01:22:08.667
We're fed up. We're polite,
but you produce despair.

01:24:25.000 --> 01:24:29.000
There has always been a sawmill here,
since before 1789.

01:24:29.375 --> 01:24:30.625
The Revolution?

01:24:31.042 --> 01:24:32.125
That's right.

01:24:33.083 --> 01:24:36.250
In the old days, there were many.

01:24:37.375 --> 01:24:40.333
There used to be 14
in Val d'Ajol alone.

01:24:40.792 --> 01:24:45.167
That was 50 or 60 years ago.
Now there are only two of us.

01:24:45.417 --> 01:24:47.667
Mine, and a bigger sawmill.

01:24:48.625 --> 01:24:50.458
About twice this size.

01:24:51.958 --> 01:24:53.625
What decimated them?

01:24:53.958 --> 01:24:55.958
Competition, that's all.

01:24:56.458 --> 01:25:01.833
Competition, and not being able
to modernize in time.

01:25:02.917 --> 01:25:07.833
Competition from Europe,
from Germany, from big French mills.

01:25:08.000 --> 01:25:10.375
Your profits keep falling,

01:25:11.417 --> 01:25:13.250
and you throw in the towel.

01:25:13.458 --> 01:25:18.042
They're not usually closings,
they're liquidations for bankruptcy.

01:25:18.333 --> 01:25:19.417
And no buyer.

01:25:20.292 --> 01:25:23.125
Nobody wants this kind of venture.

01:25:48.667 --> 01:25:52.208
The biggest French sawmill
is in Alsace, at Urmatt.

01:25:54.458 --> 01:25:59.583
It produces about 4,000 cubic meters
of lumber per day.

01:26:02.042 --> 01:26:04.833
That's what I produce in a year.

01:26:06.792 --> 01:26:09.375
Comparing volumes of wood,

01:26:09.917 --> 01:26:13.208
in 30 seconds,
they do what I do in one day.

01:26:14.125 --> 01:26:17.417
So in one day,
they do what I do in one year.

01:26:17.875 --> 01:26:19.667
It's not the same thing.

01:26:20.000 --> 01:26:22.000
They don't do any custom cuts.

01:26:27.125 --> 01:26:32.000
They always cut the same lumber.
Standard 2x4s, 2x6s, for framing.

01:26:32.208 --> 01:26:34.125
Always the same planks.

01:26:34.417 --> 01:26:38.417
As fast as possible,
sawing as much as possible.

01:26:38.833 --> 01:26:42.625
They sell to all the chain stores,
the retailers BricomarchÂe,

01:26:42.833 --> 01:26:44.292
Gedimat, Bigmat, etc.

01:26:44.500 --> 01:26:46.500
It's always the same thing,

01:26:46.708 --> 01:26:50.833
and they sell it
at rock-bottom prices.

01:26:51.000 --> 01:26:53.583
Do you deal in standard sizes?

01:26:53.792 --> 01:26:57.375
No, I specialize
in traditional, custom sizes.

01:26:57.583 --> 01:27:00.250
I can sell a plank 40 feet long.

01:27:01.250 --> 01:27:04.458
You can order any dimensions.

01:27:05.083 --> 01:27:07.875
And nobody wants large diameters?

01:27:08.292 --> 01:27:11.042
National Forest policy has changed,

01:27:11.250 --> 01:27:15.417
and it's a problem,
because we can't find big logs.

01:27:15.625 --> 01:27:19.333
The forest is standardizing, too.

01:28:30.125 --> 01:28:33.083
There's a lot of lumber,
especially oak,

01:28:33.625 --> 01:28:37.292
that we export,
and it comes back to us as flooring.

01:28:37.542 --> 01:28:40.625
Nobody in France makes flooring now.

01:28:43.000 --> 01:28:48.458
Our wood product industry, especially
for hardwoods, was allowed to die.

01:28:49.292 --> 01:28:52.625
At least we still have sawmills.

01:28:53.417 --> 01:28:55.375
But as I told you,

01:28:56.917 --> 01:29:01.125
the number of hardwood sawmills
that have closed, in Lorraine,

01:29:01.333 --> 01:29:04.000
is phenomenal, and it's nationwide.

01:29:04.000 --> 01:29:10.375
It's a shame, because my ancestors,
managing public forests for decades,

01:29:10.583 --> 01:29:15.708
have raised timber by sylviculture,
by selecting the trees to cut...

01:29:16.292 --> 01:29:17.292
By thinking.

01:29:18.417 --> 01:29:22.250
They raise big, healthy trees
of the highest quality

01:29:22.500 --> 01:29:24.333
for all types of uses.

01:29:25.042 --> 01:29:29.625
If this timber is useless,
there's a big problem somewhere.

01:29:29.875 --> 01:29:34.625
Standards for softwood lumber
are dictated by Germany and Austria,

01:29:34.917 --> 01:29:39.375
because they have young softwood
they want to sell off.

01:29:39.792 --> 01:29:44.500
The logs are sawn with canters
that are only 40 or 50 cm in diameter,

01:29:44.833 --> 01:29:47.042
bought from Scandinavian lands.

01:29:47.375 --> 01:29:52.417
They don't need bigger saws,
because spruce grown up there,

01:29:52.833 --> 01:29:54.417
near the Arctic Circle,

01:29:54.625 --> 01:29:57.625
is 40 cm thick,
even after 300 years.

01:29:57.833 --> 01:30:00.417
So they don't need bigger saws.

01:30:00.625 --> 01:30:03.792
We encouraged our sawmills
to buy them.

01:30:04.000 --> 01:30:10.167
There are bigger saws and canters
for thicker trees.

01:30:10.833 --> 01:30:14.958
But there was never any incentive
to invest in them.

01:30:15.167 --> 01:30:19.875
We have a great resource:
let's equip our sawmills for it.

01:30:20.792 --> 01:30:26.458
Maybe that would slow down
our exports of logs to China.

01:31:32.208 --> 01:31:37.208
We sawyers don't set limits:
it's all of you consumers who do.

01:31:38.542 --> 01:31:41.667
All of you demand to buy planking

01:31:41.875 --> 01:31:45.875
that is totally free
of any knots or flaws.

01:31:46.250 --> 01:31:48.042
You don't buy the product.

01:31:48.250 --> 01:31:52.667
We're not the ones who quit
cutting certain lumber sizes.

01:31:52.958 --> 01:31:55.083
It's everyone: the public.

01:32:00.375 --> 01:32:02.917
A sawmill is a photograph

01:32:03.542 --> 01:32:05.917
of the forest.

01:32:07.500 --> 01:32:12.583
The sawmill adapts to the timber
from the region supplying it.

01:32:16.500 --> 01:32:21.250
A natural forest

01:32:22.167 --> 01:32:26.833
is best served by a craft sawmill,
or a museum sawmill.

01:32:27.042 --> 01:32:28.917
It depends on what we want.

01:32:29.125 --> 01:32:33.458
If we want an industry,

01:32:35.375 --> 01:32:38.292
we need a forest
that is productive.

01:32:38.500 --> 01:32:42.333
We need a forest
that also satisfies the needs

01:32:42.708 --> 01:32:44.958
of our fellow Frenchmen,

01:32:45.458 --> 01:32:47.042
in quality and price.

01:32:47.583 --> 01:32:50.917
We won't survive
unless we consider that.

01:32:51.875 --> 01:32:53.000
What is a productive forest?

01:32:54.542 --> 01:32:56.708
What is a productive forest?

01:33:04.750 --> 01:33:08.542
Look at the forests of Scandinavia.

01:33:08.750 --> 01:33:10.125
The Russian ones.

01:33:10.333 --> 01:33:14.417
On the whole, in Scandinavia,
there are three species.

01:33:14.917 --> 01:33:19.125
One hardwood, birch,
and then pine and spruce.

01:33:20.083 --> 01:33:22.333
Three dominant species.

01:33:22.792 --> 01:33:25.708
Here in France, there are about 47.

01:33:27.500 --> 01:33:31.333
That's one way of defining
a productive forest.

01:33:32.958 --> 01:33:35.875
We have to...
Of course, the forest...

01:33:37.167 --> 01:33:39.958
The point is not to sacralize it,

01:33:40.125 --> 01:33:45.750
because if we do - and often,
that's what the public wants -

01:33:47.167 --> 01:33:51.292
we put it in under a cover,
we make it totally natural.

01:33:51.708 --> 01:33:54.167
There's an economic war going on!

01:33:54.375 --> 01:33:57.542
The Scandinavians
have clearly told us,

01:33:57.958 --> 01:34:00.333
"Don't bother to grow timber.

01:34:01.000 --> 01:34:04.625
"We'll grow timber,
and sell you the wood.

01:34:04.833 --> 01:34:08.000
"You grow a recreational forest."
Sure!

01:34:08.208 --> 01:34:09.000
It's an economic war!

01:35:04.542 --> 01:35:07.167
A diversified, complex forest

01:35:07.625 --> 01:35:11.000
requires people who live nearby,
to keep an eye on it.

01:35:11.000 --> 01:35:16.208
Lumberjacks who understand
how to care for the land.

01:35:16.750 --> 01:35:21.292
Sawmill operators who know
where the good oak grows,

01:35:21.500 --> 01:35:23.333
or the good chestnut...

01:35:23.875 --> 01:35:26.667
Knowledgeable locals,
maximizing the value.

01:35:26.917 --> 01:35:30.250
That's how it worked in France
for 300 years.

01:35:30.458 --> 01:35:34.000
The sawmills in each region
sawed the local trees.

01:35:34.000 --> 01:35:38.083
They didn't truck it
hundreds of miles.

01:35:38.458 --> 01:35:40.542
Wood differed by region.

01:35:41.167 --> 01:35:45.875
Now the forest is managed
by agencies in far-off locations.

01:35:47.000 --> 01:35:49.833
Travel costs are high.

01:35:50.042 --> 01:35:53.875
The people managing the forest
don't know the land.

01:35:54.042 --> 01:35:56.792
So they simplify the management.

01:35:57.583 --> 01:36:00.583
Also, they have to make predictions

01:36:00.833 --> 01:36:03.417
for shareholders and investors.

01:36:03.750 --> 01:36:07.292
So we make freeway forests,
all planned out.

01:36:07.500 --> 01:36:11.000
In the Landes, the system
makes it so when they plant,

01:36:12.167 --> 01:36:14.458
they've programmed the clearcut.

01:36:14.667 --> 01:36:18.542
They know what diameter they'll log,
the volume...

01:36:18.750 --> 01:36:22.417
The sale price - normally.
It's all been simulated.

01:36:22.625 --> 01:36:25.000
There's simulation software
for business

01:36:25.000 --> 01:36:30.375
that tells you how much yield
you'll get on your investment,

01:36:30.625 --> 01:36:32.292
and compare the rates.

01:36:32.500 --> 01:36:37.375
The tax break, adding an extra point:
it can all be planned.

01:36:37.583 --> 01:36:41.625
But in a forest like this one,
what can you predict?

01:36:44.000 --> 01:36:48.375
Montagne Noire,
Haut Languedoc

01:36:49.250 --> 01:36:51.708
I'm the only one
who plants hardwoods.

01:36:51.917 --> 01:36:55.167
I grow sycamore maple, for instance.
People say:

01:36:55.375 --> 01:36:57.000
"In small numbers, they're okay."

01:36:58.167 --> 01:37:01.792
But if I grow anything outside of that
and American oak,

01:37:02.000 --> 01:37:03.792
they think I'm crazy.

01:37:05.500 --> 01:37:09.375
If I want to make sure
my seeds are the right kind...

01:37:09.583 --> 01:37:14.000
Because in this forest, there are
only a few maples producing seeds.

01:37:15.583 --> 01:37:19.625
People stopped growing lumber,
or replanted evergreens.

01:37:19.833 --> 01:37:24.917
There aren't many old trees.
To re-introduce maple here,

01:37:25.792 --> 01:37:29.792
it's not native maple;
it's maple from the northeast.

01:37:30.542 --> 01:37:32.875
It's risky. It might not grow.

01:37:33.542 --> 01:37:37.000
I have to visit my maple,
collect seeds, and grow seedlings.

01:37:38.167 --> 01:37:41.167
Timber growers
always used to have nurseries.

01:37:41.375 --> 01:37:43.375
Now I only know of one.

01:37:43.583 --> 01:37:47.000
I congratulate him
on what he's doing.

01:37:47.750 --> 01:37:48.500
Only one.

01:37:49.125 --> 01:37:52.250
He buys tiny seedlings,
and grows them.

01:37:52.458 --> 01:37:57.083
Seeds are hard to find: France
has only two tree-seed dealers.

01:37:57.625 --> 01:38:01.000
If Vilmorin stops selling
maple seeds...

01:38:31.292 --> 01:38:34.458
I'm convinced
there's not one forester

01:38:35.542 --> 01:38:40.042
who could bear to see a forest
like this replaced, overnight,

01:38:40.250 --> 01:38:42.417
by a fir plantation.

01:38:44.167 --> 01:38:46.000
I see it happen often.

01:38:46.583 --> 01:38:50.167
And every time I do, I stop...

01:38:52.333 --> 01:38:56.333
It really depresses me.
It screws up my whole day.

01:38:57.000 --> 01:39:00.625
I feel terrible,
ashamed of timber growing.

01:39:00.833 --> 01:39:03.250
Ready to get out of the business.

01:39:03.458 --> 01:39:06.125
I recover: I know I won't sell out.

01:39:09.833 --> 01:39:12.125
That's a challenge in itself.

01:39:12.333 --> 01:39:15.542
But I have enough economic stability

01:39:15.750 --> 01:39:18.583
to be free of that threat.

01:39:19.542 --> 01:39:24.000
I can refuse, without a worry,
to plant fir, so I don't.

01:39:24.000 --> 01:39:27.917
But if you're an employee
of a company

01:39:28.083 --> 01:39:32.292
and you have to take orders
from a higher-up...

01:39:32.750 --> 01:39:35.625
A landowner
or a management company...

01:39:35.958 --> 01:39:36.958
you've no choice.

01:39:37.208 --> 01:39:40.750
I chose this business,
because I like growing timber.

01:39:40.958 --> 01:39:43.042
It comes from trees. It's alive.

01:39:43.333 --> 01:39:45.500
But the timber industry...

01:39:46.250 --> 01:39:50.958
is run by strategies
that have nothing to do with Nature.

01:39:52.542 --> 01:39:57.000
They're strategies
from the plastic industry, from oil.

01:39:57.000 --> 01:39:59.458
And finance.

01:39:59.958 --> 01:40:05.083
It's a bad match for Nature.
Obviously a bad match.

01:40:41.833 --> 01:40:46.458
To the foresters who resist

01:43:18.208 --> 01:43:22.208
English subtitles
Anita Conrade