Storm Klaus devastates forest in Landes

Storm Klaus, which formed on January 23, 2009, and dissipated two days later, caused massive damage to the Landes de Gascogne forest massif, stripping it of 39 million cubic meters of wood—four times the annual harvest. This loss accounted for nearly 30% of the total wood loss in France, which reached 45 million cubic meters, compared to 32 million in 1999.

Cost and recovery plan

The economic impact of the storm was estimated at 1.2 billion euros. In response, a recovery plan totaling 857 million euros was launched, funded by the State, the European Union, and the Aquitaine region. The plan included 355 million euros for removing the wood and 502 million euros for reforesting 204,000 hectares, an area nearly 20 times the size of Paris’s central area.

Clearing and storage efforts

The first step in the recovery was to clear 28,000 km of forest trails and roads in the Landes department. Over two years, nearly 30 million cubic meters of wood were removed and processed. To prevent decay, waterlogged wood was stored under sprinklers, which saturated the wood with water to block fungi and insects by removing oxygen. This method was used in areas like Mimizan and Solférino, the latter being the largest storage site in France.

Export and storage limitations

A significant portion of the damaged pine wood was exported to Germany and Austria as energy wood, while the highest quality wood was stored. By late 2010, 7 to 8 million tons of wood were stored in 21 areas with sprinkling systems. Despite these efforts, some wood still degraded, as seen in photos showing the growth of the Armillaria fungus on stored pine logs, indicating that the method slowed but did not stop decay.

Economic impact on pine prices

The price of maritime pine wood dropped nearly 60% after the storm, reaching near-zero value in 2009 and 2010. Storing the wood helped stabilize prices by removing excess supply from the market. By 2018, the price of a cubic meter of pine had risen to about 50 euros, compared to 25 euros in 2005. This recovery was partly due to lessons learned from earlier storms in 1999 and 2009.

Ongoing challenges

By 2011, a parliamentarian noted that bark beetles had caused additional damage, destroying over 6 million cubic meters of wood—nearly a year’s harvest. Combined with the damage from Klaus, this led to the loss of 250,000 hectares of forest out of a million before 2009. These figures, though unofficial, highlight the long-term challenges faced by the Landes massif after the storm.