ERNEST GUINIER (1837-1908) : UN FORESTIER ÉCLECTIQUE ET VISIONNAIRE
2008
This forester who died a hundred years ago spent his entire career in the Alps and the Pyrenees. He contributed
to lively debates on forestry from 1875 to 1900 through numerous publications that dealt with a broad
range of subjects among which we have selected those that are still considered new. In 1899, he described
a silvicultural system where trees are “individually selected” to be “free on all sides”. This is recognizable
as the qualification-growth technique developed in Germany at the end of the 20th century. In 1901, he was
concerned by “hybridization” between the Mountain pines in the Alps and those in the Pyrenees at a time
when major reforestation work involving exchanges of provenances was occurring. This concern has only
recently come to the fore. Setting aside the quarrels about even-aged versus selection forests, his very pragmatic
“versatile method” devised in 1879 strongly resembles the silvicultural systems currently recommended
for upland coniferous forests. In 1901, he expresses indignation about the fact that 40 years previously the
last primary forest in the Alps had been clear-cut. The movement in favour of preserving “ancient forests” is
highly topical. These four ideas are the outcome of close observation by a naturalist and ecologically
supported arguments.
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