In the forest of Compiègne (Oise), a king is dying.
At the foot of Mont Saint-Pierre, it sits in the midst of younger oak trees with a slenderer silhouette, under a stifling heat.
In 500 years of existence, the oak under Saint-Pierre will have survived many wars.
But this Wednesday, the blazing sun that falls on this tree now devoid of branches and leaves recalls the sad reality of years of successive droughts which will have ended up taking the skin of one of the oldest occupants of the forest, located in the town of Vieux-Moulin.
"Since 2015, we have been recording strong heat over long periods of time and it will now be two years since it is almost extinct, that we no longer observe life at home", indicates Guillaume Declchent, deputy director of the Compiègne National Forestry Office (ONF).
After this winter, the tree "did not wake up"
And the manager of the massif to specify that at the end of this winter, this oak 33 meters high and more than two meters in diameter "did not wake up" and that "its branches remained inert, leafless" .
"Not even a small branch," slips Guillaume Declchent.
It's finish ".
Read also Compiègne, Laigue, Chantilly: these three forest massifs are dying
So inevitably, the death of the big oak does not leave indifferent the walkers who speak about it with a certain nostalgia.
“When I was little, we used to go for a picnic in the forest, not far away, then we would go around the big trees by bike.
The oak under Saint-Pierre was one of my favorites, says Jean, a septuagenarian from Compiegne.
Like everyone else, we had fun trying to walk around it together, holding hands.
From memory, we had to get down to four or five!
"
Vieux-Moulin, this Wednesday.
Signs warn walkers to be careful.
LP / Benjamin Derveaux
However, the future of the tree remains uncertain.
"Walkers will be able, for some time yet, to continue to admire its majestic silhouette at the foot of Mont Saint-Pierre, each one being invited to stay well outside the safety perimeter delimited on site," said the ONF, in a short communicated.
However, the possibility of killing it is not mentioned.
But among some defenders of the forest, we can already imagine this outcome with emotion.
"Better a dead tree standing upright than cut"
“Better a dead tree standing upright than cut down.
In addition to being an element of the heritage, it shelters insects and promotes biodiversity ”, insists Bernard Debargue, for the collective“ We love the forest of Compiègne ”.
But on the side of the ONF, we reassure that "for the moment, we leave it as it is" while remaining evasive.
“Perhaps within a few months or years, we will have to shoot it down if it presents dangers for walkers,” explains Guillaume Declchent.
But for the moment this is not the case and, if necessary, we can always widen the security perimeter.
It remains an oak, a solid tree which, even old and dead, can remain in place ”.
Vieux-Moulin, this Wednesday.
Plus a leaf on the branches.
LP / BD
Case to be continued, therefore, but in the meantime, the death of this colossus leaves fear the worst for his peers in the years to come.
Michael Noirot remembers photographing the oak tree a few years ago.
“When he was still healthy,” he breathes.
Like other lovers of the Compiègne forest, he has no shortage of criticisms of the management of the massif by the ONF which, according to him, contributes to "the acceleration of the decline" of the trees there.
But he is forced to admit that global warming has become the main danger.
"It's a whole piece of heritage that gets the hell out of it"
“It is always a sadness to see such a tree disappear.
It's a whole piece of heritage that gets the hell out of it, he regrets.
But unfortunately, I think we will have to mourn the forest as we have come to know it.
"
Now all eyes are on the oldest of the Compiègne forest: the oak of Saint-Jean. With eight centenarians on the clock, some are already pessimistic. "It is true that he is not in great shape but he is still alive", emphasizes Guillaume Declchent, however. Hoping that the summer of 2021, announced as very hot and dry, does not reserve the same fate as its cousin from Mont Saint-Pierre.
