American Forestry 



VOL. XXI 



MARCH, 1915 



No. 3 



THE GREAT WAR'S DESTRUCTION 

 OF FRENCH FORESTS 



By Jean-Paul Alaux, A. D. G. 



[Monsieur Alaux is attached to the French Army and has been at the front almost since the 

 beginning of the war. He is an eminent architect of Paris and the French correspondent of the 

 Journal of the American Institute of Architects. This article was written for American" 

 Forestry by M. Alaux and was translated by Charles Harris Whitaker. It is a first hand des- 

 cription of the effect of the war on the Forests and not the least interesting part is the fact that 

 the Germans are cutting the French Forests in their possession and shipping the timber back to 

 Germany. They are probably doing the same with Belgium Forests. M. Alaux estimates 

 that it will be thirty years before the damaged French Forests are again a source of revenue. 

 Editor's Note.) 



THE great war which, during the 

 last six months, has convulsed 

 Europe, has had its repercus- 

 sions throughout the world. 

 Even Nature herself, who generally 

 remains impassable during great human 

 crises, will long bear the crudest marks 

 of this frightful hurricane of battle, 

 involving a degree of destruction and 

 devastation which are without pre- 

 cedent in history; and nowhere will 

 these marks be more conspicuously 

 and painfully in evidence, than in the 

 Forests, so far as the natural aspect of 

 things is concerned. 



During the last six weeks I have been 

 able to gather a series of narratives and 

 accounts, to which I am adding the 

 result of my own observations. Some 

 of these things are both interesting and 

 curious, as related to forest destruction, 

 and I take a great, even though a some- 

 what melancholy, pleasure in the 

 thought that the result of my labors 

 may be of interest to the lovers of 

 forests in America. 



The great task of gathering statistics 

 and of making a valuation of the 

 damage done to French Forests must 

 of course wait for the close of the war, 

 but up to the present time it may be 

 said that the chief damage wrought 



has been due to one or the other of the 

 following causes: 



I. Cuttings by the military authori- 

 ties for strategic reasons and for per- 

 mitting the more effective use of 

 artillery. 



II. Cuttings for the purpose of build- 

 ing trenches, shelters and roads. 



III. Cutting for firewood for the 

 military kitchens and for fuel with 

 which to warm the shelters. 



IV. Cutting by the enemy and the 

 taking away of timber as valuable 

 booty. 



V. Damages by projectiles and by 

 fires, whether due to accident or design. 



At the moment when the Germans, 

 through their invasion of Belgium, were 

 able to penetrate France, Paris found 

 itself temporarily menaced. Under 

 General Gallieni, the outer defenses 

 were immediately organized and by his 

 direction, an extensive series of pre- 

 parations were undertaken, among 

 which was the necessity of clearing 

 away the numerous forests which sur- 

 round the city. To the North, by which 

 the investment of the city was thought 

 likely to be attempted, the forests were 

 particularly doomed. I am informed 

 that the forest of Montmorency, for 

 example, suffered greatly by reason of 



155 



