Draft:La Teste-de-Buch forest

La Teste-de-Buch forest, also known as the Great Mountain of La Teste, has covered part of the territory of the current municipality of La Teste-de-Buch in Gironde since the beginning of the Christian era. In the 21st century, it is the last usufruct forest in France: the private landowners, known as ayant-pins (pine owners), hold the exclusive right to exploit pine resin on their plots but do not own the trees; the inhabitants of the former captal de Buch, known as usagers (users), can use the wood for their personal heating and construction needs.

Two thousand years old, growing on stabilized ancient dunes, this pine-oak forest boasts a unique ecological diversity in the Landes de Gascogne. This precious ecosystem is the result of the distinctive exploitation methods maintained for centuries due to its specific legal status. Since synthetic chemistry made resin tapping obsolete in the 1970s and the need for construction wood has diminished, the interest of both landowners and users in their shared heritage has waned. The stakeholders (landowners, user defense groups, municipalities, nature protection associations, hunters, public authorities, etc.) can no longer reach an agreement, and the forest is abandoned and poorly maintained.

In July 2022, a massive wildfire almost entirely devastated it.

Situation of the La-Teste-de-Buch forest, between the Arcachon Basin and the Etang de Cazaux (Clavaux, 1774).

Location and Geography

La Teste forest, documented since Roman times,^[1] grows on a coastal strip located between the Arcachon Basin to the north and the Cazaux Lake to the south. It covers a chain of parabolic dunes that accumulated in the region between 2000 and 500 BCE.^[2] These modest but rugged landforms (seven dunes exceed 50 meters in elevation, with the highest—Truc de la Truque—peaking at 76 meters) create a chaotic mix of hills (trucs) and pseudo-valleys (bats), earning it the nickname "Great Mountain".^[2]

Over the course of our era, new dune formations—barchan-type dunes, which notably formed the Dune du Pilat—have isolated the forest from the ocean and gradually eroded its western edge and northern half. Due to the advance of these modern dunes and the urbanization of the town of Arcachon, the area of the Great Mountain has steadily decreased from approximately 4,600 hectares at the time of the French Revolution to about 3,700 hectares at the beginning of the 21st century.^[2]

The forest is bordered to the southeast by Cazaux Lake, to the north by the urban areas of La Teste-de-Buch and Arcachon, to the northwest by the Dune du Pilat, and elsewhere by private or state-owned forests.^[1] Its position downwind likely contributes to maintaining the elevation of the Dune du Pilat.^[1]

Today, the Great Mountain is crossed only by the departmental road D218, which skirts its northwestern corner, connecting Arcachon to Biscarrosse, and by Track 214, a paved state-owned road that cuts through the forest from east to west in its northern third. This track links the D218, near the Dune du Pilat,^[3] to the departmental road D112, which serves the hamlet of Cazaux from the main urban area of La Teste. In the southern half of the forest, a network of dead-end roads serves oil wells established since 1959. Finally, a network of forest paths crisscrosses the entire area, significantly less maintained since the end of pine resin exploitation.^[4]

Historical economic aspects

Gemmatized pine.

See also: Resin extraction and Pine tar

The earliest records of how pines were exploited in the Grande Montagne date back to the 17th century.^[5]

The primary raw material sought is the tree’s oleoresin: throughout the adult life of the pine, it is collected through resin tapping, a process involving successive incisions in the bark. The exudate, mixed with rainwater and solid impurities and collected in a hole dug at the base of the tree or in a terracotta pot, is then called “gemme”.^[6] Every two to three weeks from spring to mid-autumn,^[7] the resin tapper returns to refresh the cut and collect the flowed gemme. Gathered in barrels, it is transported to a distillery where the volatile fraction, turpentine essence, is separated from a solid residue, rosin (also called arcanson or rousine). From the former, solvents, paints, varnishes, waxes, polishes, and medicines are produced; from rosin, paper glues, soaps, and printing ink are derived.^[8]

Once the tree dies, pyrolysis of its trunk and stump yields pine tar (also called pitch or brai), soot, and charcoal.^[9] The forest operator builds ovens (hourns) on-site, consisting of stone mounds covered with clay: the burning wood releases a viscous liquid collected through an outlet. This is used to caulk boats, seal containers, wax ropes, and also treat rheumatism and certain skin conditions.^[10] These practices persisted until the 1970s, gradually overtaken by the rise of synthetic industrial chemistry.^[11]

User status

Pine resin tapping in Arcachon in 1890.

The main principles governing the ownership and use of the Grande Montagne are based on texts, the oldest preserved dating back to 1468, updated several times since: the baillettes (unilateral decisions by the lord) and transactions (formalized agreements between parties):

• The plots belong to private owners (thus, the Grande Montagne is neither a co-ownership nor part of the public domain);
• These owners are called ayant-pins: they do not own the trees growing on their plot but hold exclusive rights to the commercial exploitation of their resin;
• Individuals whose primary residence has been in the municipalities partially covered by the Grande Montagne for at least ten years are considered users. They may collect dead wood for heating needs and cut live pines to build or repair their homes or boats (excluding any commercial use);
• The wood collected by users cannot leave the territory of these municipalities, either for processing or use;
• Syndics of ayant-pins and users validate felling requests, ensure that harvesting is done on a rotational basis, and manage the forest “as good stewards.”

History

In the Middle Ages, the Grande Montagne belonged to the local lords, the captaux of Buch. At an undetermined time, they granted (“baillé”) various rights to their vassals in exchange for payment. Each lord who inherited the captalat revised these rights and their costs at their discretion.^[12]

The first (perdu) text of which there is record dates from the first half of the 15th century: Gaston I de Foix-Grailly granted the inhabitants of the lordship the paid rights to collect tapped resin (gema, galipot), transform it into pitch (rouzina), and the free right to gather firewood (busca) and construction wood (fusta). On October 19, 1468, the baillette of his son Jean de Foix-Grailly-Candale confirmed and reassessed these rights, granted to about forty local families. In 1500, Gaston II de Foix-Grailly-Candale sold the rights of grazing (herbatge) and acorn collection (for pig fodder, glandage) for an annual lump sum.^[13]

In 1535, the baillette of Gaston III de Foix-Grailly-Candale [fr] introduced the appointment of syndics to represent the inhabitants, prohibited the sale or transport of wood outside the captalat, and emphasized the importance of managing the forest carefully.^[14]

In 1601, a crisis arose with the new captal, Jean-Louis de Nogaret de la Valette: a new act was signed only after three years of forest “closure.” It clarified that the ayant-pins acquired ownership of resin extraction concessions (but not of the land or the trees). His son Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette d'Épernon confirmed these principles in 1645.^[15]

In 1746, François-Alain Amanieu de Ruat signed a transaction that granted the ayant-pins ownership of the land and limited the rights of users. Following protests from the latter, a new text was agreed upon on June 16, 1759: the ayant-pins retained their newly acquired land ownership (along with their cabins and resin, but still not the trees), and the users regained their free rights to wood. The captal retained only the income from grazing and acorn collection rights, as well as the privilege, as a user, to use wood for his castle located outside the territory, in Le Teich.^[16]

It was in this contractual state that the French Revolution occurred. Some users attempted to have the forest, formerly a seigneurial asset, declared communal property: the arbitration tribunal convened on 8 Fructidor Year II (August 25, 1794) rejected their claim, arguing that the forest had not belonged to a noble since 1746. It confirmed both the ownership of the ayant-pins and the obligations tied to their property title in favor of the users, inseparable from their ownership. At that time, 104 plots were counted, held by 38 families.^[17]

In 1917, a new transaction was signed to regulate the exploitation of trees killed by natural disasters: several disputes between ayant-pins and users had arisen following a hurricane in 1897 and a fire in 1898. The agreement stipulated that the proceeds from the sale of the wood would henceforth be shared between the owners (50%), the municipalities of La Teste-de-Buch and Gujan (33%), and a syndicate fund responsible for administering shared matters between users and ayant-pins (17%).^[18]

Finally, various revisions were enacted in 1952, 1955, and 1977 (the latter limited to a five-year duration).^[19]

Conflicts and Contemporary Issues

Recurring conflicts between the involved parties have animated the deliberations of La Teste municipal council,^[20] the columns of the regional press,^[21] and the Bordeaux courts in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The question of whether users can cut oaks for firewood is controversial: the transactions limit the felling of live oaks to construction purposes only; however, oak is a higher-quality fuel than pine and was less valued by owners during the resin-tapping era. Unauthorized cuts have thus frequently occurred.^[22]

Does the right of use extend to the residents of Cap-Ferret? Until 1976, the tip of the Cap-Ferret peninsula fell under the municipality of La Teste, before joining Lège by referendum for practical reasons. As residents of the former captalat territory, the approximately 2,000 year-round residents are legally users of the forest. But should this privilege be limited to those who lived there ten years before the change in municipal affiliation? The debate remains unresolved, and in 2008, a Ferretcapien organized a tree-felling event and transported the wood by pinasse to Cap-Ferret in grand style—to avoid the wood “leaving the former boundaries of the captalat”.^[23]

A similar debate exists for the residents of Arcachon, a town detached from La Teste in 1857 to facilitate its urban expansion.^[24] The few residents at the time explicitly renounced their usage rights in exchange for full ownership of plots.^[25]

The stakeholders struggle to agree on the representation of users: per the transactions, users are supposed to organize into a syndicate. However, under pressure from the State and after several legal episodes, it was decided in 1976 that the municipal councils of La Teste and Gujan-Mestras would represent the users.^[26] Nevertheless, a user association, ADDU-FU, tends to claim this role.^[27]

Access rights to the forest massif are also regularly questioned: the transactions prohibit owners from blocking paths or fencing their plots. However, the circulation of motor vehicles and the organization of hikes or other events are regulated.^[28]

Finally, controversies periodically arise regarding the possibility of building or improving the approximately one hundred resin-tappers’ cabins recorded in 1901, beyond the renovations conditionally authorized by the land-use plan,^[29] in a context of proven temptation for land and real estate speculation.^[30]

Owners in 2016

The 3,895.52 hectares registered in 2016 are divided into 388 plots, grouped into 161 properties.^[31]

Owners	Surface area (ha)
Individuals	2,391	61 %
Legal entities	343	9 %
Mix of individuals and legal entities	37	1 %
Public bodies (mainly the Conservatoire du littoral)	171	4 %
Local authorities (mainly the communes of La Teste and Gujan-Mestras)	237	6 %
Property not demarcated between owners	684	18 %
Unknown	33	1 %
Total	3,896

The exact owners of approximately 875 hectares cannot be identified (due to incomplete titles, undefined properties, or complex co-ownerships).^[31] This situation hinders achieving a quorum of ayant-pins owners.^[32]

Fifty properties cover more than 25 hectares, collectively representing 71% of the forest’s area^[31]; the remainder is highly fragmented, with some properties smaller than one hectare.^[32] At least 51% of the forest’s owners reside in the former captalat territory; at least 82% live in the Gironde or Landes departments.^[32]

The map drawn up by E. Durègne in 1901 shows the historic plots of land on the Grande Montagne.

Attempts at Cantonment

Cantonment involves granting full ownership of a portion of the forest to a community in exchange for the usage rights it previously exercised over the entire forest.^[33] Common in France during the Second Empire, such acts eliminated all other user status arrangements for forests in the country.^[34]

From the 1970s onward, several voices called for ending the user status of the Grande Montagne through cantonment:

• On one hand, ayant-pins owners, whose land no longer generates income due to the disappearance of commercial markets for resin tapping.^[35] Only those residing in the former captalat territory have user rights to the wood, and all are subject to the standard obligations of landowners (property tax, duty to properly manage the forest, DFCI fire prevention tax, etc.);^[36]
• On the other hand, state authorities, concerned about the forest’s low productivity and its gradual degradation due to lack of maintenance.

Opposing this initiative are environmental protection associations like SEPANSO [fr], convinced that the forest’s unique ecosystem is due to its special status, as well as user associations and a significant portion of owners—particularly those living year-round in the affected municipalities.^[37]

In September 1977, cantonment proponents simultaneously filed a lawsuit against the two concerned municipalities and proposed an amicable settlement, offering full ownership of 745 hectares to the municipalities. Thirteen of the plaintiff owners would cede part of their plots. In March 1981, the Bordeaux Court of Appeal rejected the request.^[38] An appeal to the Court of Cassation was unsuccessful, on the grounds that the request was not supported by all owners^[39] (seventy-nine had not endorsed the initiative).^[40]

Taking advantage of a 1985 amendment to the Forest Code, which relaxed the required quorum—an amendment pushed by a Gironde senator specifically to address the Grande Montagne case—owners made a new amicable cantonment offer in 1987, proposing 120 hectares to the municipalities. This attempt also failed.^[41]

In 2010, a ruling by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal definitively ended all cantonment attempts, acknowledging the impossibility of identifying all owners.^[42]

Vegetation before the July 2022 fire

The vegetation is both characteristic of the Landes de Gascogne and shaped by the forest’s user status, exploited solely for resin production.^[43] Over the centuries, this status has had direct consequences or collateral effects:^[43][44]

• Preventing clear-cutting and linear sowing, widely practiced in the rest of the Landes, in favor of selective “gardening” cuts, which promote regeneration and the simultaneous presence of trees of different ages;
• Preserving large adult pines as long as they are suitable for resin tapping and favoring their growth over that of pedunculate oaks;
• Maintaining a relatively clear understory beneath these large pines, with a density of 120 to 130 per hectare, easily accessible;
• Supporting fertile humus;
• Maintaining, until the mid-20th century, a dense network of footpaths and small trails (“menades”) that allowed resin tappers to access each pine.

Since the end of resin tapping, however, the incentive to maintain the understory has faded, and very dense vegetation has developed.^[43]

• The Haut-Natus plot in June 2022
• 
• 

The forest is thus a natural pine-oak woodland (maritime pines and pedunculate oaks) organized as an uneven-aged high forest. The shrub layer consists of holly, hawthorn, medlar, plum, blackthorn, dog rose, wild pear, rowan, service tree, and viburnum. It hosts eagle fern, honeysuckle, butcher’s broom, rockrose, alder buckthorn, heather, gorse, and calluna. The herbaceous layer is rich in cinquefoil, hairgrass, germander, and madder.^[45] The vegetation on the southwest slopes of former parabolic dunes is more lush and diverse than that on the northeast slopes, which are mainly colonized by pedunculate oaks, some holly, and eagle fern.^[4]

In the northwest, sheltered from prevailing winds by the Dune du Pyla, strawberry trees and sage-leaved rockrose become more abundant.^[46]

On the eastern edge of the forest, particularly near the Cazaux pond, approximately 290 hectares of wetlands or marshy areas are recorded. These are mostly covered with alders, willows, and birches, under which grow alder buckthorn, sedges, blue moor-grass, rushes, bog myrtle, water plantain, yellow loosestrife, royal fern, Spanish heath, and more.^[47]

The forest is dotted with clearings around the former resin tappers’ cabins, which were used as vegetable gardens or grazing areas, now more or less reclosed (138 hectares at the start of the 21st century),^[48] as well as natural gaps resulting from the spread of a fungal pine disease caused by armillaria.^[49]

A bottle pine, c. 1895.

Protection

In 1943, the part of the forest west of the RD218 was listed in the inventory of protected sites [fr].^[50] The entire Grande Montagne was listed in 1977^[50] and classified in June 1994.^[51]

A project to designate it as a protected forest failed due to incompatibility with the presence of oil wells.^[52] Such a designation would have ended the user status by subjecting the forest’s management to the Forest Code [fr].^[53] However, it is classified as a special conservation area in the national natural heritage inventory and as a Natural area of ecological, faunal, and floristic interest.^[54]

It has benefited from the Natura 2000 label since late 2005.^[55]

Two types of human-modified, centuries-old, and endangered maritime pine specimens are protected by a prefectural decree: so-called “bottle” pines, so heavily tapped that scar tissue ridges have significantly widened the base of their trunks and created cavities that shelter numerous bird species, and so-called “boundary” pines, tall and smooth because never tapped, left to grow by owners at the corners of their plots to mark boundaries.^[56]

Toponymy

The main dunes, “valleys,” resin tappers’ cabins, and even cadastral plots bear Gascon names, often dating back to the Middle Ages:^[57] examples include Hourn Laurès (the laurel oven), Lartigon (from artigue, cleared land), lous Broustics (places covered with brush), Batsegrette (the secret valley), or Lauga (from augar, marshy terrain).^[58]

Other traces of human activity

In 1901, 123 cabins where resin tappers lived were recorded, scattered throughout the forest.^[29] These were often equipped with a well, beehives, a vegetable garden, and an orchard.^[49] A count in 2020 identified only 85 remaining. Some are used as permanent residences (32 in 1976)^[59], and certain ones are self-sufficient in electricity.^[29] The 2022 fire destroyed around fifty of them.^[60]

Since 1948, the Natus necropolis, located at the forest’s edge, has housed the remains of over 950 Senegalese tirailleurs, eleven Russian soldiers, and two French soldiers who died at the nearby Courneau military camp, established during World War I for the “wintering” of colonial units from sub-Saharan Africa. Many succumbed to pneumonia epidemics during the winter of 1916–1917.^[61]

In the southern part of the forest, Esso drilled 93 oil wells starting in 1959; 47 were still active in 2021, operated by Vermilion REP.^[62] The 30 km² deposit, buried between 2,500 and 3,200 meters deep,^[63] is France’s second-largest oil field^[1], producing 250 cubic meters of crude daily.^[63] The opening of eight additional wells^[63] received a favorable opinion after a public inquiry in 2023^[64] but is strongly contested.^[65]

Fire of 2022: area affected on July 17.

Fires and storms

Archives record that a hurricane in 1799 felled over 40,000 pines, causing a 90% drop in resin production. Exactly two centuries later, the 166 km/h winds of Storm Martin toppled many trees in the southwest of the user forest.^[54]

Parts of the Grande Montagne have been ravaged by fires, notably in 1708 (one death), 1716 (2,700 ha in the south), 1811, 1822 (140 ha in the southern third of the forest, human-caused), 1843, 1863, 1865, spring 1893 (277 ha in the northwest of the massif, over several months), 1898 (755 ha in the southern third), July 1912 (300 ha), 1929, September 1943 after a bombing^[54] (535 ha again in the southern third), July 1952 (190 ha), and 1973 (62 ha). Since then, fires have been limited (500 to 700 pines in 1981 total, 0.8 ha in 2001 after a rave party, two 2-ha fires in 2003…). The user forest’s resilience to fires is debated: some argue that the lack of understory and forest path maintenance complicates firefighters’ efforts; others believe that the botanical diversity, proportion of hardwoods, and terrain help slow the spread of potential blazes.^[66][67]

From July 12 to 23, 2022, an unprecedented fire devastated the massif. It started around 3:00 p.m. on July 12^[3], when a utility vehicle suffered a severe electrical failure on track 214. Fueled by a heatwave, the fire rapidly spread south until July 17, before shifting winds drove it back north. In total, 7,000 ha of forest—user, state-owned, or private—were affected, 20,000 people were evacuated, and firefighters eventually contained the flames.^[68][69][70]

• After the fire in July 2022
• 
  The Lartigon hut, at the foot of the Grande Dune, destroyed.
• 
  Rubble from the Lauga huts on the shores of Lac de Cazaux.
• 
  The forest.
• 
  Final assessment of affected areas.

Restoration

Aerial mapping conducted in December 2022 distinguishes the majority of areas where photosynthesis remains active at the tops of conifers from those where trees have died.^[71] Although several decades will be needed to restore a mature forest, nature gradually reclaims its place in the months following the disaster with the regrowth of ferns, understory plants, and the germination of young pines.^[72]

However, the urgent task is to remove dead pines: INRAE fears the proliferation of the Ips stenographus bark beetle, a half-centimeter beetle that primarily attacks damaged conifers. The goal is to protect surviving trees and, above all, adjacent forests.^[72] Delayed by disagreements among stakeholders,^[73] unfavorable weather, and a sluggish timber market, felling only began in January 2023. By late October, only half of the dead wood had been removed, and numerous piles of infested logs remained stored on-site;^[72] the cuts were completed in June 2024,^[74][75] with 570,000 tons of wood evacuated^[76] and only 10% of the trees left standing.^[74] The proceeds from the sale of felled pines amounted to 9 million euros.^[77]

During these operations, for safety reasons, a municipal decree—contested by the users’ association—^[78]prohibited public access to the forest.^[79] Full access was restored on July 1, 2024.^[76]

Several options are being considered for forest repopulation: in September 2022, scientists, notably from INRAE, launched a petition calling for an end to systematic cutting of remaining trees and for repopulating the forest through natural regeneration to preserve its uniqueness and diversity.^[80] This option is also favored by the users’ association.^[81] A collection of approximately one million seeds from the primary forest is intended to support this restoration.^[76]

Another point of debate is whether to allow owners of burned cabins to rebuild.^[82] The State has taken a stance against rebuilding, a position contested by the ayant-pins and the mayor of La Teste.^[83][84]

References

1. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 9)
2. Aufan (2021, p. 15-21)
3. Uhart, Théo (2022). "Incendies en Gironde : ce que l'on sait des feux de Landiras et La Teste-de-Buch qui ont détruit plus de 5 000 hectares" [Fires in Gironde: what we know about the Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch fires that destroyed more than 5,000 hectares]. Franceinfo (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2025.
4. Aufan (2021, p. 121)
5. Aufan (2021, p. 78)
6. Description des machines et procédés pour lesquels des brevets d'invention ont été pris sous le régime de la loi du 5 Juillet 1844 [Description of machines and processes for which patents have been granted under the law of July 5, 1844.] (in French). L'Imprimerie Nationale.
7. Aufan (2021, p. 86-87)
8. Aufan (2021, p. 92-102)
9. Gardner, Frank; Williamson, Alvin (1976). Naval Stores Wastewater Purification and Reuse by Activated Carbon Treatment. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Industrial Environmental Research Laboratory.
10. Aufan (2021, p. 95-98)
11. Aufan (2021, p. 110)
12. Aufan (2021, p. 36-37)
13. Aufan (2021, p. 37)
14. Aufan (2021, p. 38)
15. Aufan (2021, p. 39)
16. Aufan (2021, p. 39-40)
17. Aufan (2021, p. 41-42)
18. Aufan (2021, p. 42-43)
19. Aufan (2021, p. 43)
20. Aufan (2021, p. 185)
21. Aufan (2021, p. 180)
22. Aufan (2021, p. 49-50)
23. Aufan (2021, p. 51)
24. Aufan (2021, p. 42)
25. Aufan (2021, p. 51-54)
26. Aufan (2021, p. 55-58)
27. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 59)
28. Aufan (2021, p. 113)
29. Aufan (2021, p. 183)
30. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 22-23)
31. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 45)
32. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 46)
33. Académie française. "Cantonnement | Dictionnaire de l'Académie française | 9e édition". www.dictionnaire-academie.fr. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
34. Badré, Louis (1983). Histoire de la forêt française [History of the French forest] (in French). Arthaud. p. 171.
35. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 56)
36. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 15)
37. Aufan (2021, p. 47)
38. Aufan (2021, p. 159-160)
39. Aufan (2021, p. 163)
40. Aufan (2021, p. 163)
41. Aufan (2021, p. 170-171)
42. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 21)
43. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 12)
44. Aufan (2021, p. 113-115)
45. Aufan (2021, p. 119-121)
46. Aufan (2021, p. 115)
47. Aufan (2021, p. 117-119)
48. Aufan (2021, p. 122)
49. Aufan (2021, p. 124)
50. Aufan (2021, p. 144)
51. Aufan (2021, p. 177)
52. Aufan (2021, p. 159)
53. Aufan (2021, p. 165)
54. Cinotti & Lavarde (2022, p. 11)
55. Aufan (2021, p. 187)
56. Aufan (2021, p. 114)
57. Aufan (2021, p. 21)
58. Aufan (2021, p. 246-268)
59. Aufan (2021, p. 125)
60. Lenne, Jean-Baptiste (2022). "La Teste // L'avenir en pointillé des cabanes incendiées" [La Teste // The dotted future of the burnt-out huts]. La Dépêche du Bassin (in French). Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
61. Mormone, Boyer & Caule (2008)
62. Aufan (2021, p. 125-126)
63. Hiscock, Stéphane (2023). "La Teste-de-Buch : Vermilion voudrait forer des puits de pétrole supplémentaires en forêt usagère" [La Teste-de-Buch: Vermilion plans to drill additional oil wells in primeval forest]. Ici (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2025.
64. "GIRONDE: VERS DE NOUVEAUX FORAGES PÉTROLIERS PRÈS D'ARCACHON?" [GIRONDE: NEW OIL DRILLING NEAR ARCACHON?]. BFM Business (in French). 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
65. Bohuon, Janice (2024). "Bassin d'Arcachon : pourquoi le projet de huit puits de pétrole fait débat" [Arcachon Basin: why the project for eight oil wells is being debated]. La Croix (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2025.
66. Aufan (2021, p. 116-117)
67. Béziat, Bruno (2022). "Incendie sur le bassin d'Arcachon : début de polémique sur la gestion de la forêt" [Fire in the Arcachon Basin: the start of a controversy over forest management]. Sud-Ouest (in French). Archived from the original on 16 July 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
68. "Incendie en cours en Gironde: point du 19 juillet 2022 à 23h00" [Fire in progress in Gironde: 11:00 p.m. on July 19, 2022]. Préfet de la Gironde (in French). 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
69. "Incendies en Gironde : une journée caniculaire qui inquiète, ce que l'on sait ce lundi matin" [Fires in Gironde: a scorching day of concern, what we know this Monday morning]. Sud Ouest (in French). 2022. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
70. Favennec, Oanna (2022). "Incendie à La Teste : la forêt usagère touchée par les flammes, "une catastrophe écologique"" [Fire in La Teste: “an ecological catastrophe” in the forest affected by the flames]. Ici (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2025.
71. Patsouris, David (2023). "Bassin d'Arcachon : la carte de l'activité végétale après l'incendie en Forêt usagère de La Teste-de-Buch" [Bassin d'Arcachon: map of plant activity after the fire in the Forêt usagère de La Teste-de-Buch]. Sud Ouest (in French). Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
72. "Gironde: après les incendies monstres, la forêt face aux insectes ravageurs" [Gironde: after the monster fires, the forest is faced with insect pests]. Le Point (in French). 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
73. Béziat, Bruno (2022). "La Teste : à la recherche d'un difficile consensus sur la forêt usagère" [La Teste: in search of a difficult consensus on the user forest]. Sud Ouest (in French). Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
74. "Incendies de La Teste-de-Buch : « Nous sommes aujourd'hui à une charnière de l'histoire de la Forêt usagère »" [Fires at La Teste-de-Buch: “We are at a turning point in the history of the Forêt usagère”.]. Sud Ouest (in French). 2024. Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
75. Patsouris, David (2024). "La Teste-de-Buch : retardé, le chantier des coupes d'arbres dans la Forêt usagère s'achèvera en juin" [La Teste-de-Buch: tree-cutting worksite in the Forêt usagère to be completed in June after delays]. Sud Ouest (in French). Archived from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
76. "Bassin d'Arcachon : deux ans après l'incendie, quel bilan dans les deux forêts de La Teste-de-Buch ?" [Bassin d'Arcachon: two years after the fire, what has been achieved in the two forests of La Teste-de-Buch?]. Sud Ouest (in French). 2024. Archived from the original on 12 July 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
77. "La Teste-de-Buch. Incendies : une cagnotte de 9 millions d'euros à se partager en forêt usagère" [La Teste-de-Buch. Fires: a 9 million euro jackpot to be shared in the user forest]. La Dépeche (in French). 2024. Archived from the original on 15 December 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
78. Menet, Sabine (2023). "Bassin d'Arcachon : « En forêt, l'usage n'est pas une activité récréative ! »" [Bassin d'Arcachon: “In the forest, use is not a recreational activity!”]. Sud Ouest (in French). Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
79. "Circulation en forêt de La Teste-de-Buch : « Je ne veux rien empêcher mais protéger », dit le maire" [Traffic in the forest of La Teste-de-Buch: “I don't want to prevent anything but to protect”, says the mayor]. Sud Ouest (in French). 2023. Archived from the original on 8 December 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
80. "Incendies sur le bassin d'Arcachon : plus de 1 800 signatures pour le moratoire en Forêt usagère de La Teste-de-Buch" [Fires in the Arcachon basin: over 1,800 signatures in favor of a moratorium in the Forêt usagère de La Teste-de-Buch]. Sud Ouest (in French). 2022. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
81. Béziat, Bruno (2024). "Bassin d'Arcachon : les usagers de la forêt de La Teste restent vigilants" [Bassin d'Arcachon: La Teste forest users remain vigilant]. Sud Ouest (in French). Archived from the original on 22 September 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
82. Béziat, Bruno (2023). "Incendies en Gironde : à la Teste, l'interminable attente des propriétaires de cabanes incendiées". Sud Ouest. Archived from the original on 8 December 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
83. "Forêt usagère de La Teste-de-Buch : les propriétaires soutiennent la reconstruction des cabanes brûlées" [Forêt usagère de La Teste-de-Buch: owners support reconstruction of burnt huts]. Sud Ouest (in French). 2023. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
84. Hérouart, Marie-Hélène (2024). "Gironde : deux ans après les incendies, l'État empêche la reconstruction des cabanes brûlées dans la forêt de la Teste-de-Buch" [Gironde: two years after the fires, the State prevents the rebuilding of burnt huts in the forest of La Teste-de-Buch]. Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2025.

Bibliography

• Mormone, Jean-Michel; Boyer, Patrick; Caule, Jean-Pierre (2008). Le Bassin d'Arcachon. Société historique et archéologique d'Arcachon et du Pays de Buch.
• Aufan, Robert (2021). La Forêt usagère de La Teste-de-Buch, des origines à nos jours. Les Établissements.
• Cinotti, Bruno; Lavarde, Françoise (2022). La forêt usagère de la Teste de Buch - Un fragile équilibre entre propriété et usage. CGAAER.

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