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3.5 million owners of forest parcels
More than 50% of owners hold
forests of less than 4 hectares
The problem of fragmented forest ownership
Confetti plots, enclaves, gaps in the map — fragmented ownership is one of the main obstacles to the sustainable management of French forests, often making it impossible to locate a parcel, reach it, or manage it. Millions of French people don't even know they own forest parcels.
Yet putting sustainable, diversified, close-to-nature management in place makes it possible to:● Protect biodiversity and natural ecosystems● Build resilience and prepare for climate disruption● Optimize carbon sequestration and restore France's carbon sinks● Improve the production of quality timber, valued locallyKloros works to address this problem and bring these forests under sustainable, responsible management.
A local presence for local solutions
Because a local forest manager is always on hand, Kloros delivers practical, on-the-ground solutions grounded in the realities of the local and silvicultural context.
What we do to counter fragmentation
To improve land coherence and forest management across France, we offer solutions that bring unmanaged forest land back into use and restructure holdings at parcel level, creating units that are more coherent and easier to manage.
Working hand in hand with local councils
Municipalities are our first contacts and allies, because forests are a key lever for their resilience and development. We work alongside them through public meetings, awareness-raising and training for elected officials and residents, bringing abandoned parcels back into use, coordinating local land matters, and securing forest areas. With our forest managers regularly present on the ground, Kloros becomes a local contact and local actor, answerable for the sound management of the forest for the benefit of owners, neighbors and the municipality
Contacting neighbors
By letter, through public meetings at the town hall, or out in the forest itself, we contact and talk with every neighbor and resident adjoining the parcels we manage, to understand their concerns and the local context. We then look for solutions with a view to long-term silvicultural management, at the scale of the forest massif as a whole
Consolidating and bringing into management
Through parcel exchanges, purchases, sales or joint management, we then seek the best possible local land coherence. Once a parcel is acquired, it is brought into the Plan Simple de Gestion (the statutory management plan that schedules thinnings and operations and assesses the forest's economic, ecological and social functions). A few additional parcels are sometimes enough to unlock situations where a forest holding was previously unmanageable — poor access, no extraction landing, difficult terrain, landlocked parcels. A more coherent set of parcels can then be brought into management, and harvesting can begin
Want to know more about fragmented ownership and what it means?
Book a meeting with Louise, our Head of Forest Land
What is forest ownership fragmentation?
A closer look at a land-tenure problem that particularly affects France's forests
A concrete example of a highly fragmented holding covering 600 hectares of forest
This forest holding extends across 26 municipalities around La Breille-les-Pins in Maine-et-Loire, and is heavily fragmented, with an average parcel size of 0.6 hectares. As a result, most parcels cannot be managed: they are isolated, have no direct road access, or are simply too small. The task now is to expand this holding by a few hectares to create units of a size suited to sustainable management.
Our work with neighbors and municipalities
Why municipal involvement is essential to this sustainable forest management project
With rising fire risk and the challenges of climate change, forest management matters more than ever to local areas. A well-tended forest is not only a preserved natural space; it is a key lever for municipal resilience, local economic development and the safety of residents:
● Securing and adding value to a local timber resource for construction and heating● Optimizing tree growth and strengthening the forest's role in carbon sequestration● Reducing fire risk by making parcels easier to maintain and lay out● Supporting the local economy by drawing on forest managers, sawmills and the wider timber sector● Contributing to municipal finances through property tax levied on forest parcels in production
How we support municipalities
We offer municipalities practical support to structure forest management and build collective momentum in the face of fragmented ownership:
● Awareness-raising and training for elected officials and residents: field days with professional forest managers, to better understand what is at stake and what can be done.● Making the most of small municipal parcels: some municipal forests fall outside the régime forestier because of their size. We help municipalities find workable solutions for managing and maintaining them.● Identifying and consolidating land: we help identify ownerless vacant property, put owners in contact with one another, and encourage land exchanges that build toward more coherent management.
An approach backed by public policy
Reducing forest fragmentation is a recognized strategic priority supported by the French state. Our land consolidation work sits squarely within that framework, drawing on:
● National laws and programs: the Loi d'orientation forestière, the Loi d'avenir pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et la forêt, and the Stratégie Nationale pour la Biodiversité, which explicitly encourage consolidation and coordinated management.
● Regional instruments: the Trame Verte et Bleue (green and blue infrastructure network), Groupements d'Intérêt Économique et Environnemental Forestiers (GIEEF) and the work of the SAFER, France's rural land agencies.
● Sector bodies: the Centre National de la Propriété Forestière (CNPF) and the Office National des Forêts (ONF), which provide technical and administrative support to these projects.
By bringing owners and local authorities together around the value and sustainable management of their woodlands, we help consolidate France's forest fabric and generate positive effects for the sector and for local areas.
Book a meeting
Book a meeting with Louise to discuss forest fragmentation and land consolidation, and ask whatever you'd like.