Discover the Landes forest
Who planted the Landes forest?
In the early 18th century, long before the Landes forest was planted, wealthy landowners thought they could make money by planting rice, peanuts and tobacco leaves.
On these virgin, marshy lands, they also intended to develop pastoral activities.
It all ended in failure. In 1857, Napoleon III signed a decree obliging these same landowners to start planting pine trees.
This time, the aim was to drain and reclaim the land.
A quiet, unspoilt natural area
The Landes forest, which stretches along the Atlantic Ocean, is mainly made up of maritime pines. But other species such as oak can also be found in the nature park.
The forest reveals different landscapes through the seasons: ponds, peat bogs, hillsides, pine trees…
It is also referred to by different names, such as “forêt usagère” and “forêt domaniale”.
User forests are those where local people can harvest timber, hunt, fish and graze. This part of the forest was given to their distant ancestors in the 13th century by Prince Edward of Wales.
The Office National des Forêts manages the national forest (or production forest). This part of the Landes massif is used to produce wood for the paper industry and sawmills.