In the forest of Bercé, the ONF agents hid a hundred solid oak stools. The goal is to explain to the public that tree cutting is necessary. #IlsOntLaSolution.
For a few days now, it is no longer the mushrooms which interest the walkers of the forest of Bercé in the Sarthe, but stools carved in oaks. Christmas gifts before the hour offered by the ONF scattered over an area of 1,500 hectares not always easy to find. “We have a lot of hope but we are a little afraid because they made a communication explaining that it could take years to find them all. We say to ourselves that there is a challenge” tells with humor this dad who came with his family.
But why is the NFB offering these wooden stools to the public? To lift the taboos on the cutting of trees often equated, wrongly, with deforestation. The operation is called elsewhere Taboo-nets. “It’s okay to cut down trees” explains Nicolas Jannault, director of the ONF Pays de la Loire. “We have a society that needs wood to deal with global warming in particular. It is a renewable resource that allows carbon to be stored” he specifies. Young people also need space to grow and flourish in a forest. Hence the need to make room for them by slaughtering their elders.
These turned wood stools were made from oak trees from the national forest of Bercé, after having been selected by ONF foresters. Their look was imagined by Studio 5.5, a Parisian global design collective. Cut in a Loire-Atlantique sawmill, designed in the Jura, the 100 pieces are unique and all numbered. The walker who is lucky enough to find a stool on his way will be issued a certificate of authenticity.
Since November 10, when the operation was launched, 40 stools have already been found.
