Un colocviu de succes în lumea Regelui-Soare...

The chronicle presents the most important results of the colloquium entitled “Le bois, source de ressource durable - un acteur de la transition” and carried out as part of the exchanges started in 2019 between SCNF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français) and the Franco-Japanese Society of industrial techniques. The colloquium included the actual conference, hosted in Versailles (October 23-25), as well as two field days in the Lorraine region (north-east France) (October 26-27). The host of the colloquium was the École nationale supérieure de paysage (ENSP), a higher education institution created in 1976 and operating in the premises of the former École nationale supérieure d’horticulture, established in Versailles in 1874. The event in Versailles aimed to address the issue of ensuring and rational and sustainable use of wood resources, taking into account aspects related to biodiversity and the social functions of forests. Consequently, the colloquium proposed an exchange of ideas between the “actors” who participate in the production and transformation of “this material with exceptional qualities” and its end users. The three days of the conference took place in three directions: (i) historical and social approach to forests, (ii) reconciliation of wood resources with biodiversity and (iii) anticipation, with numerous presentations related to the mentioned themes. The colloquium continued with a field trip to the Lorraine region of France, where the host of the first day of the field visit was the Champenoux Station of the Grand Est-Nancy Research Center of INRAe, the agricultural, food and environmental research body, including forestry, of France. Here we were introduced to the activity of the station, which houses three forest research units, the laboratories in its premises, as well as the nearby Amance Arboretum. On the last day, the participants traveled to the Forêt de Haye, a forest massif of approximately 11,000 ha, of which 6,500 ha are state forests, located near Nancy. Among the most suggestive aspects of the field visit, we can mention (i) the possibility of harvesting thinning trees with the help of harvesters, after marking the trees to be extracted with paint and opening the skidding trails, (ii) the special problems with the dieback of European beech, especially on very shallow soils (only 20-30 cm of mineral soil), against the background of the long-term lack of precipitation during the growing season, (iii) the special interest given to rare and valuable tree species such as Sorbus torminalis or Sorbus domestica during the application of tending operations, species whose growth in thickness is favored by interventions from above, following the provision of free growth state (without competition) at the crown level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]