Une forêt exemplaire : le bois de Gabor (Tarn), ses avatars du XIIIe au XXIe siècle

The tiny ancient royal forest (30 ha) of Gabor, still intact since the 17 th century, has an extraordinary history. It belonged to the Counts of Toulouse since 1221, then became the property of the King in 1271 and in 1541 was subjected to the reformation. It was almost completely cleared for the purpose of growing woad, for which there was a flourishing market at the time. What remained of the forest was subjected to the coppicewith- reserves system but ruined by the officers in charge of tending to it. In 1666, Louis de Froidour notes that the oldest tree it contained was only 7 years old. Not wanting to use either the simple coppice or the high forest system on such a small surface area, he designed a long term plan for selecting standards, thus inventing the coppice-with-standards system. It was recorded in 1724 that his instructions were followed to the letter. The forest was sold as national property in 1796 and to this day has maintained many traces of its prestigious but little known past.