In the Pyrenees, the resort of Saint-Lary is launching a reforestation campaign in its ski area

A large-scale operation has started these days at Pla d’Adet at the foot of the slopes of the Saint-Lary resort. A reforestation operation, twenty Scots pines were replanted on this piece of mountain where the trees had long since disappeared. But contrary to what is usually done, it is not young shoots that have been reintroduced here, but trees taken a little lower in the valley.

A delicate operation as underlined by Axel Rodriguez-Lebelle, regional manager at the ONF, the National Forestry Office, which manages the system: “We chose trees between two and four meters old, between ten and fifteen years old. The technical challenge is to take the tree with its root system, the idea being to have the most small roots, which we call the hairy, so that the tree can then take over quite easily.“.

If trees were felled during the construction of the station, as in many other areas, pastoral activity is also responsible. The animals that graze here have also shaped this landscape, which in summer only offers tourists a peeled massif. This is what prompted the operators of the station to launch this reforestation. “In ten-fifteen years, we will have trees all around us which will hide the embankments, which will separate the ski slopes. The idea is also to improve the quality of the landscape, because what is beautiful attracts, and in summer, it is not always as beautiful as in winter.“, explains Akim Boufaid, the director of the Saint-Lary station.

The Pyrenean resort and the ONF will renew this reforestation operation every year before the winter season. Each year, dozens of new Scots pines will be replanted, which will deeply reshape the landscape of Pla d’Adet.