Forest Landov ( fr. Forêt des Landes ) - a vast forest in the south-west of France in the region of Aquitaine . Due to the occupied area of about 1 million hectares [1], this forest is the largest in Western Europe .
| Forest of Lands and Gascony | |
|---|---|
| fr Forêt des landes | |
 View of the forest | |
| Specifications | |
| Type of | Mixed forest |
| Square | about 10,000 km² |
| Location | |
| A country |
|
Framed by the Atlantic coast of France ( Silver Coast ), the Forests of the Lands have the shape of a large triangle, located on the territory of three departments ( Gironde , Landa and Lo and Garonne ), and the peaks of which are located on Point Point de Grave (in the north), on the communes of Hossegor (in the south) and Nerac (in the east).
Most of the forest is privately owned, but several areas along the tidal coast belong to the state.
Content
Tree Species
Seaside Pine
The main part of the forest stands is a seaside pine . It grows on an area of approximately 950,000 hectares [2] .
Unlike most other European forests, the Landow Forest is almost entirely an artificial plantation. Massive planting of pines on the territory of the natural region of Pays de Bouche was undertaken in the XVIII century in order to stop the advancement of quicksand and drainage of the soil. Such artificial plantings have important features:
- On the territory of the massif there are forest areas where all the trees were planted at the same time and, therefore, have the same age and the same height (unlike relict forests ).
- Forest areas are covered by a network of large cutting areas and paths (cut through to limit the spread of fires and facilitate the access of fire brigades) at a distance of a kilometer from each other.
- Tracks of clear cutting and trees stacked along the edge of the road are visible in the forest.
Oak
Together with pines, other types of trees coexist well in the forests of the Lands, for example, oak, represented here by several species [3] :
- English oak (or white oak)
- Pyrenean Oak (or Black Oak)
- Cork Oak
- Stone oak (insignificant presence on the Gironde coast).
Threats
Fires
Specific measures were taken on the territory of the Landov forests to reduce the risk of losses from forest fires , namely, observation towers were built, water pools were built, cutting areas were laid and so on.
During major fires of the 1950s, more than 300,000 hectares of forest stands were lost in the Landow Forest. The number of fires and the severity of their consequences in the Landov Forest has significantly decreased after the recent disasters of the 1950s and 1960s, mainly due to the adoption of fire-fighting measures in the forest, which form natural barriers to the spread of fire. The width of the glades is at least the length of two laid pines, which allows you to stop the spread of flame in a fire.
Forest Sanitation
As a rule, forests with a predominance of one tree species are less resistant to climate tests and harmful insects and fungi multiply faster in them. Research and experiments are regularly conducted in the Landsov forests, the purpose of which is to complicate and increase the diversity of forest stands to increase the natural resistance of trees. [four]
Notes
- ↑ Aquitaine Regional Forestry Center
- ↑ Seaside pine changes in Aquitaine
- ↑ L'Almanach du Landais 2008, Éditions CPE
- ↑ Sample research program
