"It was a shock to me to see all these marked trees and I promised myself to do something ..." Jocelyne Maucolin remembers her astonishment, last winter, by discovering the extent of the felling to come in the Bois de Narcy, located 15 km from Saint-Dizier (Haute-Marne).
“When I read the National Forestry Office (ONF) project in the municipal newsletter, I understood that we were stopping the life cycle overnight.
The clean cut is not a solution: it is a disaster for the environment ”, alarms this retired native of Narcy.
The ONF plans to clear-cut 2 plots which represent 6 hectares of the communal wood.
"And then they will replant Douglas-fir instead of deciduous trees such as oaks, beeches or lime trees damaged during the storm of 1999. This change of species will have an impact on the biodiversity of the site", deplores Jocelyne Maucolin who therefore goes to war against this massive slaughter.
Poster campaign, distribution of leaflets, all means are good to raise awareness among residents.
And, already, the online petition launched at the end of April has collected more than 500 signatures.
"We want a softer solution"
For the mayor of Narcy, Franck Leclère, who has barely 300 souls, this clear cut is justified: “Our wood was 80% impacted by the storm of 1999 and there was no natural regeneration.
Currently, the forest no longer brings anything back to the municipality.
And this cut would only concern 5% of our forest, which has more than 100 hectares.
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The management plan which provides for the cut has been signed but nothing has yet been budgeted.
Jocelyne Maucolin hopes that a public meeting will make it possible to review the ONF copy: “We want a softer solution that preserves biodiversity.
Taking trees as you go to thin out the plots could be an alternative to clear cutting.
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For now, the municipality does not plan to cut before the horizon 2022.