Landscape and Urban Planning 103 (2011) 109–117 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Landscape and Urban Planning jou rn al h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/landurbplan History and spatial complexity of deforestation and logging in small private forests Emilie Andrieu a,b,∗ , Sylvie Ladet a,b , Wilfried Heintz a,b,c , Marc Deconchat a,b a INRA, UMR 1201 Dynafor, F-31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France b Université de Toulouse, ENSAT, UMR 1201 Dynafor, F-31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France c GIP Ecofor, F-75116 Paris, France a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 17 November 2010 Received in revised form 17 June 2011 Accepted 29 June 2011 Available online 6 August 2011 Keywords: Forest management Farm forestry Spatial organization Multi-temporal GIS Disturbance regime Historical records a b s t r a c t Despite awareness of the importance of taking historical factors into account to understand drivers of present biodiversity, few studies have considered long-term forest historical data because of the difficulty involved in reconstructing forest management history. Our aim was to trace the management history of small private forests, which are the most frequent type of woodlands in France, as they play a major ecological role. We analyzed forest continuity and logging history of a group of small private forests that formed a continuous forest before 1771. Thanks to two old maps (Cassini’s map – dating from around 1771 – and Napoleon’s cadastral map – from around 1825) and aerial photographs (1942–2006), we were able to reconstruct forest continuity for 235 years and logging history after 1942 at a fine scale by adapting a regressive photo interpretation method in a GIS. Between 1771 and 1942, we detected both fragmentation and a decrease in total forest area following the conversion of forest land into agricultural land. However, the selection criteria of deforested areas changed over time. After 1942, the situation was reversed due to rural depopulation. Traditional logging activities continued after 1942, resulting in a complex mosaic of stands with different logging histories. The only change in logging modalities was a decrease in the quantity of wood harvested (smaller cuttings) after the 1980s. We discuss how such temporally and spatially complex management modalities could affect plant biodiversity in these farm forests. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Forests in southern and western Europe have been exploited since the Neolithic (di Pasquale, di Martino, & Mazzoleni, 2004; Pitte, 2003). Exploitation has had an impact not only on the envi- ronment but also on biodiversity and plant species abundance (e.g. Bellemare, Motzkin, & Foster, 2002; Brunet, 2007; Flinn & Vellend, 2005; Hermy & Verheyen, 2007; Peterken & Game, 1984). Recent studies have shown that in an existing forest, differences in land use history 2000 years ago can result in clear differences in the compo- sition of the current vegetation (Dambrine et al., 2007; Dupouey, Dambrine, Laffite, & Moares, 2002). For better conservation man- agement, knowledge of the drivers of current biodiversity needs to account for historical factors that affected the forest (Jacquemyn, Butaye, & Hermy, 2003; Verheyen, Honnay, Bossuyt, & Hermy, ∗ Corresponding author at: Centre INRA de Toulouse, UMR Dynafor, BP, F-31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex, France. Tel.: +33 05 6128 53 82; fax: +33 05 6128 54 11. E-mail addresses: emilie.andrieu@toulouse.inra.fr (E. Andrieu), sladet@toulouse.inra.fr (S. Ladet), wilfried.heintz@toulouse.inra.fr (W. Heintz), marc.deconchat@toulouse.inra.fr (M. Deconchat). 2004). But up to now, few authors have considered long-term his- torical data on forests in Europe (i.e. going back more than few decades). Indeed, reconstructing forest logging history is difficult because accurate historical information about land cover and land use is scarce and is rarely mapped. This is even more of an obsta- cle in the case of small privately owned forests than larger forests, for which management documents describing land use changes are often kept for many years. Small privately owned forests are very common in many parts of Europe, particularly in south-western France. Twenty-eight per- cent of all French territory is forested and around 75% of this area (i.e. 11 million ha) belongs to around 3.5 million private owners (CNPF, IDF, & FPF, 2009). Consequently, properties are small: half of these private woodlots cover less than 25 ha. This is a key dif- ference between private forests in northern Europe and in North America, where management units are larger and easier to study (Erickson, Ryan, & De Young, 2002; Kennedy & Spies, 2005; Lofman & Kouki, 2001). For properties of less than 25 ha, French regulations do not require any particular forest management strategy, whereas for larger properties a management plan (Plan Simple de Gestion) is mandatory and must be approved by the Centre Régional de la Propriété Forestière. As a consequence, the management of small 0169-2046/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.06.005