L’inventaire des ressources forestières en France : un nouveau regard sur de nouvelles forêts

The authors examine the reasons that led, in 2004, the French national Forest Inventory to abandon its regular method, which was applied at departemental level. They describe the features of the new, continuous, inventory method applied at the national level: sampling, calculation of results. Standard results obtained with this new method applied at the national scale using a 5-year “sliding window” are presented. The authors also show that this method now enables information to be gathered across a broad spatial and temporal range, for instance following a disturbance. They detail several important developments in this new inventory method that have since been introduced: a new biogeographic breakdown, a direct, on-site method for measuring wood volumes logged, adoption of a new and more satisfactory method for computing biological production, collection of more varied ecological data. The article underscores the strong upward trend in standing timber volumes, essentially deciduous species, in French forests. The conclusion provides some indications as to what future developments in the French Forest Inventory might be in coming years.