In private forests, management methods are very diverse and reflect the owners’ differing levels of silvicultural knowledge and the different purposes they assign to their woodland property. On the ground, this can sometimes result in absences or shortfalls in terms of management, as well as a recurrent lack of long-term vision.

So the Walloon partners in this initiative will work together to build management support tools for private forests in Wallonia, assisted by French and German partners who already have a wealth of experience in this area. These tools will contribute to incorporating private forest management into a sustainable development framework and helping private Walloon forest owners to sign up on a voluntary basis.

With a view to enhancing sustainable management in private forests, private owners in Wallonia and Lorraine who sign a “Forest renewal contract” will be informed about the tools that are to available to them in Wallonia as well as those already operating in Lorraine (PSG, RTG, CBPS) for implementing sustainable development on the ground: training will be provided. In addition, the partners will ensure that sustainable development documents are brought to the attention of private forest owners, whether or not they are located in critical areas, and encourage their use.

Finally, so that private forestry owners are in a position to judge whether they are meeting sustainable management criteria to the levels required in a forested area, the Walloon partners will use the advice and expertise of their counterparts in Lorraine and Rhineland-Palatinate to devise suitable self-assessment tools. 

Involved partners : Ressources Naturelles Développement (RND), Centre Régional de la Propriété Forestière Grand-Est (CRPF), Société Royale Forestière de Belgique (SRFB), Cellule d'Appui à la Petite Forêt Privée, Interprofession Forêt Bois Lorraine (Gipeblor), Landesforsten Rheinland-Pfalz.

Expected results :

• Creation of flexible, multi-use sustainable management support tools or improvement of existing tools;
• Creation of sustainable management selfassessment tools for forest owners;
• Implementation of sustainable management documents on over 1,500 ha of forests and the promotion of these documents on over 16,000 ha.