Transnational Meeting in France : From Acorn to Giant!
From acorn to giant: discovering the oaks of Chimay with ForDiL
How can we tell the story of the fifth ForDiL transnational meeting in France without simply listing visits day by day?
Of course, we held many working sessions to move the project forward as it enters its final stretch. But to capture the spirit of this meeting in France, the team chose a common thread: the oak, a timeless symbol of longevity.
From the smallest seedlings to centuries-old giants, Grégory Timal, ForDiL partner and Director of the Centre de Développement Agroforestier de Chimay, shared his deep commitment to a vision of forest management that embraces all scales and generations.
ForDiL across borders
This transnational meeting took place mainly in Bavay, France, from 6 to 10 October, but the ForDiL team also crossed the border into Belgium, guided by Grégory Timal through the forests of Rance and Chimay.
From fragile seedlings to the forests of tomorrow
Our visit to the Rance Forest offered a deep dive into experimental plots designed to test various methods for managing natural oak regeneration.
Observing seedlings, understanding their challenges, testing ways to guide their growth, and exploring techniques toward uneven-aged high forests — all these practices illustrated the precision and care required to work with natural regeneration, in line with the principles of Continuous Cover Mixed Silviculture (SMCC) promoted by the ForDiL project.
These young, discreet, and vulnerable trees already carry within them the promise of tomorrow’s forests.
The quiet strength of giants
The visit to Chimay Forest also offered moments of awe and reflection. Two remarkable oaks particularly impressed the group:
- A patriarch more than 400 years old, with a stunning circumference of nearly 4.5 metres. Majestic and deeply rooted in time, it stands as a living memory of the forest, already present before the French Revolution. The ForDiL team could only feel humbled in its presence.
- An atypical oak adorned with a gigantic burl more than 1.5 metres high. Impossible to measure precisely, but impossible not to admire — a reminder that nature always surprises us.
When forest meets culture
The visit was not only about trees. The team also stopped at Scourmont Abbey, an emblematic site of the region. Beyond its spiritual and cultural heritage, the abbey manages nearby forests that play a vital role: they filter the spring water used to brew the world-famous Chimay Trappist beer.
A beautiful illustration of how the forest, beyond its ecological value, also nourishes our cultures and traditions.
Conclusion
From the fragility of seedlings to the grandeur of ancient oaks — and through the deep links between forest and culture — this meeting reminded us that the diversity of forests mirrors the diversity of perspectives we bring to them.
This diversity — ecological, cultural, and economic — lies at the very heart of the ForDiL project.
The oak, in all its forms, will undoubtedly remain the most powerful image of this transnational meeting.
