Ventoux - Ventoux

Legal status

UNESCO-MAB, ENFOR

Long Term Perspective

The ISS Ventoux is mainly public land, managed by the French Forest Service (ONF). The ONF is highly interested in the project and has permanent plots within the ISS, designed to monitor the impact of management on forest ecology and dynamics.

Scientific Value

The ISS includes forest, shrub and grassland Mediterranean ecosystems of high ecological and conservation value, arranged along a steep ecological gradient along an elevationnal cline. According to exposure and elevation, they range from typical low elevation xerothermic Mediterranean systems (Pinus halepensis, Quercus coccifera shrub land and xerophytic grass lands) to high altitude Montane Mediterranean and Alpine forests. In total, more than 15 target species are present in Ventou. Forest types include a diversity of structures, from very dense (200 adult trees per ha) to sparse (less than 1 tree per ha within another forest type), and a diversity of natural regeneration situations (within mature forests, in ecotones, within recolonizing fronts).