Forest of Gâvre
National forest of 4490 hectares located on the commune of the Gâvre (Loire-Atlantique) at 40 km of Nantes.
History of the forest of Gâvre
The forest of Gâvre appears to have always existed. The Dukes of Brittany already had it in XIIIème century. It was attached to the crown of France following the marriage of the Duchess Anne of Brittany with the king Charles VIII. During the revolution, in 1791, it was incorporated in the Field of the State, and remained, so far, domanial.
In 1296, the Duke Jean II of Brittany, wishing to create a city around its castle of Gâvre, gives up with those which wanted to settle there, on the one hand, a certain number of grounds, probably already cultivated, on the other hand, on part of the forest very definitely delimited, and known, then under the name of " Breuil of Arpents": " Faculty to have some and draw with always all the fruits and profits so much in pasture and moor, like nipple and any other manner of panage, under the conditions however of being able anything to cross nor to exploit of wood which is or will be in the aforementioned moor of Breuil of Arpents".
The introduction of animals was formally prohibited on the remainder of the forest.
Little by little, to the rights which had been granted to them, the users added others of them: at the end of a few centuries, pastures and panage extended on all the forest, with, pure some, the right to the firewood. These rights were recognized following various acts and lawsuit.
These rights of use now, but recently for some, fell in disuse.
On order of Colbert, the forest was organized in grove in order to provide sawlog to be used the navy for veil. This organization remains today.
Main objectives
- production
- leisures/reception
- protection of fauna and the flora, with recent creation of a arboretum.
Production
18 to 24000 m ³ of wood per annum, which corresponds to the natural increase.
The forest comprises the conifers (maritime pines and woodland mainly) exploited at the 100 years age.
Among the leafy trees, the sessile oaks dominate. They are exploited around 200 years. Their wood is used for the frame, joinery, but also the manufacture of barrels and the construction of boat (Recouvrance, for example). The beeches a long time constituted the wood of reference of the sabot-makers who, still at the beginning of the 20th century, exported most of their production towards the United States. Regeneration is done by plantation or sowing (natural regeneration). Imagine a nipple of 3 grams… and 200 years later a oak of 44m. and 5 tons!
Useful bonds
House of the Forest of Gâvre - Benoist Museum
See too
Forest | List of the principal forests of France
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