The beech forest walk

8 points of interest

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  Flora

  From flower to fruit ...

  The beech is a monoecious tree, meaning that female and male flowers are distinct but occur on the same tree. They flower in April and May; insects carry the male reproductive cells (the pollen) to the female cells.
  After pollination, the flower produces seeds enclosed in soft-spined husks: beechnuts. Every three to five years, in autumn, an adult beech disperses thousands of seeds.

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  Flora

  From the seed to the tree

  Because most seeds are rich in oils, they are devoured by famished animals in the winter: squirrels, field mice, wild boar, jays, chaffinches… Any seeds still on the ground the following spring can start germinating.

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  Natural environment

  Timber from stumps

  Beech trees regenerate very easily; their regrowth is a number of shoots grouped together on the same stump. In the old days, this method (coppicing) was much used to obtain firewood. On the northern slope of Aulas mountain, foresters turned the former coppices into timber plantations on stumps: the new trees with their straight boles were a steady supply of wood for packaging (crates). Since the closure of these companies, the beeches have only been commercialised as firewood.

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  Know-how

  The profession of forester

  The forester is a silviculturist, meaning that s/he cultivates the forest to ensure that it is vigorous and healthy. The forester intervenes at all stages in the trees’ life cycle to encourage or oppose natural evolution, depending on the objectives. Sometimes that means momentarily protecting a species dominated by rival plants, for instance by clearing beech seedlings threatened by brambles or young firs. When a plantation reaches maturity – at about 70 years – the forester supervises fructification to make sure there are abundant flowers receiving sufficient light…

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  Flora

  A genetic conservatory

  This parcel, no. 308, is an official Conservatory of Genetic Resources. Its trees are vigorous and thus well adapted to the soil, climate and altitude conditions. These qualities of adaptation to the environment are inscribed in their seed, which is why some of their beechnuts are liable to be collected, dehydrated and preserved so as to be used to regenerate the beech forests of the Aigoual massif, if necessary.

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  Fauna

  A little treasure!

  The evolution of plantations, and of handsome beeches with straight boles, is favourable to certain animal species. They include a discreet little owl, 25 cm tall and weighing less than 200g, which resettled the Aigoual massif in 1990: the boreal or Tengmalm’s owl. Nesting trees are marked with yellow paint, and an official period of peace and quiet applies to areas of reproduction from 1 January to 31 July, during which all forestry is forbidden.

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  Natural environment

  An ancient forest

  Some species, such as the Lobaria pulmonaria lichen, which grows very slowly, are good indicators of a forest’s age. Likewise, some species of herbaceous flora, for instance woodrush, are noticeably more abundant in old forests than in recent forests.

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  Natural environment

  The south-facing slope

  Over the centuries, the south-facing slope of Aulas mountain was cleared for pasture, leaving the bedrock bare in places. In the late 19th century, foresters replanted the slope with spruce. These pioneer trees slowly re-established a forest floor and, in their shade, beechnuts germinated. Foresters are now guiding this stand towards a mixed plantation of beech and fir.