Workforce development through forestry projects

« This project will help develop heating based on wood energy, as well as personnel training in a system where supply is inadequate. The technical feasibility is obvious. Demand for wood energy is very strong and is bound to grow due to the soaring price of oil. »

Laurent Gouet

Installed in Charentes-Maritimes, the Association pour le Développement, la Promotion et l'Animation de la Haute Saintonge (ADPAHS) promotes workforce and social development for persons in difficulty. It has 27 employees today. For over 10 years, together with other projects, it has been performing sylviculture operations, as well as maintaining open spaces.

Alongside the "culture and leisure" and "banks and rivers" projects, it has just set up a new "forestry operations" project, scheduled to last five years. This involves organizing the felling and pruning of the trees in the forest of Chevanceaux on behalf of the French National Forestry Office, local companies and private individuals. To reach a broad public, the association is planning to develop the packaging of wood in bundles for home heating.

Expanding the activity

Today, the first four employees associated with this program are cleaning and maintaining forest plots, unexploited by the commercial sector, where they recover the wood.

But ADPAHS still does not have a tractor. Besides the difficulty of packaging the wood, the structure could face financial problems due to the small volume involved.
To remedy this situation, the association plans to buy a used forest carrier with a crane and grab loader, and to acquire small tools to maintain the machine.
The Veolia foundation has agreed to participate in these investments, which will enable the newly placed employees to alleviate their tasks and to broaden their skills, because they will also learn to operate forestry machines.