A human adventure
For tens of years, the RENECOFOR Network has been monitoring forest ecosystems and their responses to environmental changes. The term "network" not only refers to the nationally organized grid of 102 permanent observation sites, however. It also reflects the group of men and women who contribute to the global success of the programme and who guarantee the continuity and quality of the data collected.
From the field plot to the publication of the final results, forest ecosystem monitoring calls upon a wide range of skilled professionals:
- Hundreds of National Forest Office (ONF) foresters carry out a variety of observations and collect field samples, simultaneously, on the many sites located throughout France.
- Numerous associates and partners help with species inventories and other expert inventories, analyse field samples, design and maintain specialized tools and materials, and interpret and publicize the scientific data.
- RENECOFOR agents coordinate the Network, stimulate scientific and technical innovations, organize logistics, manage the data base and continuously improve protocols.
The set of skills involved in forest ecosystem monitoring only begins to make sense over the long term. The fastidious repetition of measurements demands great consistency and considerable patience is required before results come to fruition. The actors involved must be prepared to question their methodology if data quality appears insufficient. The RENECOFOR Network could not exist today without the continuing commitment of all these actors.
The personal accounts published in the brochure downloadable at the bottom of the page offer an insight into the human adventure that underlies our scientific research mission. Eleven people with different roles in the Network share their experience, impressions and emotions. Through these accounts, we thank all those who are contributing or have contributed to the success of our mission.
May our monitoring work continue with the same collective energy in the future! Indeed, much work remains to be done to understand the complexities of our ecosystems and to anticipate the effects of global change. The RENECOFOR heritage is already unique, but compared to the life cycle of a forest, the Network is still in its infancy.
A scientific observatory, a human odysee
Laurence Galsomies, engineer and PhD in environmental sciences, works at the Air Quality Control Service of the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). The ADEME helps fund the Network to support, in particular, atmospheric pollution monitoring (sulphur and nitrogen deposits, the impact of ozone concentrations in the air).
©Giada Connestari / ONFErwin Ulrich is a forestry engineer and researcher at Fontainebleau. Previously National Director of RENECOFOR, he led the installation of the Network and directed its activities for 18 years.
©Giada Connestari / ONFYann Dumas is a research engineer at the National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA). He is one of the team of botanists who carry out floristic inventories on the Network’s plots.
©Giada Connestari / ONFValérie Trévedy is currently an administrative secretary for the Mountain Terrain Restoration Service (RTM) in the Eastern Pyrenees based in Perpignan. Previously, she started out as administrative assistant to RENECOFOR and, for more than 20 years, contributed significantly to the organisation of the Network’s human resources and logistics, in collaboration with key agents throughout the country.
©Giada Connestari / ONFPatrice Soulé is technical director of the Plant Analysis Laboratory for the INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Bordeaux region. The laboratory is COFRAC (French Accreditation Committee) ISO 17025 certified and has been a RENECOFOR partner since the inception of the Network. The INRA lab analyses all the leaf and litter samples from the Network’s plots to monitor tree nutrition status and the nutrient cycles at play in forest ecosystems.
©Giada Connestari / ONFMarc Lanier is a retired ONF technician. He created and then managed the RENECOFOR data base for 23 years.
©Giada Connestari / ONFJérôme Piat is Director in charge of Research and Development at the experimental site at Compiègne (Oise). He is one of the Network’s territorial correspondents, whose role is to ensure coordinated communication among the Network’s field agents and to carry out different types of measurements: dendrometric inventories in the stands, collecting leaf samples (which are sometimes shot out of the canopy with a hunting rifle).
©Giada Connestari / ONFAnne Probst is a director of research at the CNRS (National Committee of Scientific Research) and is responsible for the scientific pole at the ECOLAB (Laboratory of Functional Ecology and Environment) in Toulouse. For many years, she has helped bring added value to the Network’s data, particularly by evaluating critical loads for atmospheric pollutants.
©Giada Connestari / ONFPierre Roullet is Director of Icare, a company specialised in physical engineering and instrumentation, chiefly related to environmental research. Pierre has designed and produced several types of custom-made equipment for the Network.
©Giada Connestari / ONFBrigitte Mesnier-Bourdillat is a forest technician working for the Cîteaux (Côte-d’Or) regional unit. She is responsible for RENECOFOR plot CHS 21 and was previously in charge of plot SP25 near Pontarlier (Doubs).
©Giada Connestari / ONFGuy Monzo is a forest technician working for the Aigoual regional unit in the Cévennes. He has been responsible for plot HET 30 since the Network was created. Seconded by his alternate, Francis Milhau, he measures weekly precipitation in the open field and under forest cover.
©Giada Connestari / ONF