It is an experience that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. The forest of Rohanne, north of Nantes, most of which is located in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, is the subject of a three-party agreement for its management, between the department of Loire-Atlantique, which owns it, the National Forestry Office (ONF), whose mission is to manage public forests, and the Abracadabois association, created by the occupants of the premises, the ZAD – deferred development zone, which has become to defend. At the beginning of 2023, the development document for this forest, drawn up by the ONF on the basis of Abracadabois’ proposals, should be submitted to the departmental council.
Ten years ago, in October and November 2012, this forest resounded with the sound of tear gas and stun grenades fired by the mobile gendarmes who had come to dislodge the occupants who were fighting, alongside local farmers, against the airport project which was to be built there. In January 2018, when the government of Edouard Philippe announced the end of this fifty-year-old project, mistrust was still in order. And the inhabitants of the ZAD showed the firm intention of keeping control of the forest and the agricultural land, that is to say the 1,425 hectares of the airport right-of-way, and freed by this abandonment. However, after long months of discussion, an agreement was reached between the department, which in the meantime bought these lands from the State, and the occupants.
The latter, some of whom are engaged in a process of regularization, created Abracadabois in 2018, whose vocation was to maintain the forest, while collecting wood to meet the needs of the community, in building materials or firewood. . “We had to be able to meet some of our needs on the territory and, at the same time, ensure the protection of wooded areas. It was not a question of putting the forest under glass”recalls Mathilde (the zadists often present themselves under borrowed first names), member of Abracadabois, who arrived on the ZAD in 2010.
“Do not deny the history of this territory”
The discussion process started in 2019, with the future of agricultural land being treated as a priority. The socialist president of the departmental council at the time, Philippe Grosvalet, wanted “do not deny the history of this territory”says Sophie de Saint-Amour, head of the land department of the department. “It was not won at the time, there was mutual distrust. But everyone had an interest in moving in the same direction. » “At the beginning, it was a bit complicated to hear the authorities tell us ‘what to do’ in this forest, when they were ready to sacrifice it for an airport”also says Nolig d’Abracadabois, who arrived in the ZAD in October 2012.
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