Forest of the Moors

See also: Moors

The forest of the Moors of Gascogne (in Gascon tired Lanas ) is the largest main forest of Europe.

Regional names

  • Pinhadar (to pronounce " pignada") : solid mass of pines planted in Gascon language.

Geography

See also: Moors of Gascogne

The forest of the Moors (called Moors of Gascogne, and formerly Moors of Bordeaux) extends on most of the French Départements of the Landes and the Gironde. It also overflows on the Département of Lot-et-Garonne. The solid mass of the Moors gives rise to some rivers (the Leyre, the Boudigau, etc) and of the Rivière S (the Ciron, the dead Gat, etc).

The important cities being located in the vicinity are Bordeaux, Mount-with-Marsan, Dax and Bayonne. The main forest is bathed in the West by the Atlantic Ocean (the Bay of Biscay). The littoral thus made up bears the name of Côte of Money.

Plantation

It is made up mainly of maritime pines.

Contrary to much of other European forests, it almost entirely consists of forest planted and exploited industrially. The massive plantation of pines was started in Pays of Buch to stop the progression of mobile sands and to cleanse the ground as of the 18th century. These plantations result in very observable characteristics and measurable consequences:

  • One can observe pieces where all the trees were planted simultaneously and thus have the same age and the same size (contrary to a primary Forêt).
  • the pieces are traversed broad cuts and ways (intended to limit the propagation of the fires and to facilitate the approach of the troops of firemen) which square the forest on kilometers. These broad cuts and these ways are called avoid-fires.
  • One finds equipment specific of fight against the Forest fires: turns of observation, basins of storage of Water, ways, etc
  • the number of fires and their gravity decreased considerably since the last catastrophes of the Années 1950 and 1960.
  • While walking in this forest, one finds traces multiple of the cuts of break, close-cropped cuts (in particular, wood stocks cut in edge of way).

History

See also: Law of June 19th, 1857

Most of the zone now occupied by the forest of the Moors marshy and was very slightly inhabited until the 19th century. It is this period of the local history whose traces are preserved in the local memory by characters as the shepherd landais perched on his stilt S.

However, the Forêt was planted of manner of rehabilitation and in order to benefit important economic from this little industrially developed area.

In the Years 1970, certain parts of the forest yielded the place locally to intensive farms (in particular for the culture of the Maïs), without to lose their traditional nature.

Today, the forest of the Moors of Gascogne is with horse on three departments (Landes, the Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne). Its current surface is evaluated to approximately a million hectares, of which the 9/10 are exclusively made up of maritime pines S. But there exists within this Forêt of the Moors a natural forest, varied, inherited the postglacial timbering of this part of South-west: the pine there côtoie the Oak, the Alder, the Birch, the Willow, the Houx. Its zone of predilection is the edge of the River, grounds particularly drained goods. This forest-stock was extended probably until the medium of the Moyen-âge, time as from which the installation of a wetter and fresh climate and especially the clearings related on the extension of the pastoral activity and the requirement in Bois for construction will involve the retreat of the forest zones between the 14th century and the 18th century.

Industry

See also: Gemmage

After having made during the first part of the 20th century important great strides, industries of the Wood, Paper and Gemme (resin of the pine collected on the tree) became notable actors of the regional economy.

A complete economic die is organized around wood:

On the contrary, the gem, which rested on a collection requiring an important labor, almost completely disappeared with the profit from more current chemical technologies. One thus finds processing undertakings/distillation chemical as DRT which use the by-products of the exploitation of the pine.

Before the middle of the 19th century, only the extensive breeding of the Ewe in the moor, allowed the production of a Engrais (Soutrage) which allowed the culture of the Seigle mainly in Culture on balks, to limit the influence of moisture during the winter. The disappearance of the moor by a Semis generalized of pine involved the disappearance of this culture and the shepherds on stilts which are the stereotype. The next image landaise will be the gemmor and his Hapchot.

Literature

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