France's Fontainebleau forest faces long road to recover after wildfires
More than 2,000 hectares of the Fontainebleau Forest have been left scorched by two major fires, devastating habitats and raising concerns over the long-term future of one of Europe's richest biodiversity reserves.
On her first visit to the affected area since the fires, Sophie David, an officer with France's National Forestry Office, found a landscape transformed.
Charred trees stretch into the distance, while burnt vegetation and pine needles crunch underfoot. In areas normally filled with birdsong, there is now little sound.
“Usually, I say 'welcome to the Fontainebleau Forest'. Today, I find it a little difficult to welcome you,” David told RFI.
“The first sight is very stark because, in a place where we used to see life and hear birdsong, today we hear nothing but the scorched pine needles that will eventually fall.”
Some trees still appear to have survived. A group of birches stands among the blackened vegetation, with green leaves remaining at the top of their branches. But David said the signs of life were likely to be temporary.
“If I look up at the birch tree in front of me, I see green leaves. I look down and see leaves that have been scorched by the fire,” she said.
“The first two metres of the trunk are black. Then I look down again and see the tree's roots. Although there are still green leaves, the roots are completely charred. In the coming days, the tree will die.”
She said the same pattern was likely to be repeated across much of the burnt area.
Massive fire burns in Fontainebleau near Paris
Exceptional ecosystem under threat
The Fontainebleau Forest, one of the main green spaces surrounding Paris, is home to around 15,000 species, including animals, plants, fungi, mosses and lichens.
The ONF describes it as one of Europe's most important biodiversity reserves, with a wide variety of habitats spread across its woodland, rocky outcrops, heathland and wetlands.
The fires destroyed not only trees and vegetation, but also parts of the complex network of habitats supporting wildlife across the forest.
“The flora will grow back,” David said. “As for the fauna, inevitably, some of it has been lost.”
Larger mammals and many birds may have been able to escape the advancing flames, but smaller and less mobile species were far more vulnerable. Reptiles, amphibians and insects are among those feared to have suffered the greatest losses.
The full ecological impact will not be known for some time. Forestry teams will need to carry out surveys to determine which species survived, which have left the area and whether established populations can return.
“It will be our job over the coming months and years to ensure that the species that were here before are still here in the future,” David said.
“But, of course, 2,000 hectares going up in smoke has a considerable impact on biodiversity, and there are losses we will never be able to replace.”
The effects could extend beyond the animals and plants directly caught in the fires. A decline in insect populations, for example, could reduce food supplies for birds and other wildlife, while the loss of vegetation may leave the soil more exposed to erosion and temperature changes.
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Recovery measured in decades
With the fires extinguished, attention will now turn to securing the burnt areas, assessing the condition of surviving trees and helping damaged habitats recover.
Some vegetation may begin to return relatively quickly as the forest regenerates naturally. The openings created by the fires could also allow new plant life to develop, potentially benefiting certain species.
Restoring the wider ecosystem, however, will be a much longer process.
Trees whose roots or trunks were badly damaged may continue to die in the coming weeks and months, increasing the risk of falling branches. The ONF will also need to monitor the spread of invasive plants and assess whether wildlife returns to the affected zones.
In some areas, intervention may be needed to stabilise the soil or protect young trees. Elsewhere, forestry officials may decide that allowing the forest to regenerate naturally offers the best chance of recovery.
Even with careful management, it could take years – and in some areas several decades – for the Fontainebleau Forest to regain the ecological richness it had before the fires.
This has been adapted from the original article in French by RFI's Romain Philips