{"id":333,"date":"2019-11-15T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artisancentral.fr\/blog\/?p=333"},"modified":"2023-01-31T08:43:41","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T08:43:41","slug":"everything-you-need-to-know-about-affouage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-affouage\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything you need to know about ‘affouage’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With wood burning appliances becoming more and more efficient, the ancient French tradition of \u2018affouage\u2019 \u2013 which gives individuals the right to gather wood from a local forest – is making a comeback. As a way of maintaining woodland, it\u2019s great news for the environment, and it\u2019s good for your pocket, too. Tempted? Us too! Which is why we\u2019ve been taking a closer look at what \u2018affouage\u2019 is \u2013 where it began, how it\u2019s regulated, and what you need to do to exercise your right to it\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Origins of \u2018affouage\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Run the word \u2018affouage\u2019 through an online translator and the rather unhelpful translation you\u2019ll get is\u2026 affouage! So, let\u2019s break it down. The word \u2018affouage\u2019 comes from the ancient French verb, affouer, which means \u2018to heat\u2019. \u2018Affouage\u2019 then, is the source of the heat \u2013 in this instance, wood. Nowadays, the word is used to denote the practice<\/em> of cutting designated trees in a forest, with the intent of using the resulting wood to heat one\u2019s home. Hence, you\u2019ll see it used in sentences such as \u201cL’affouage est une pratique ancienne qui contribue \u00e0 l’entretien des for\u00eats.\u201d (Affouage is an ancient practice which contributes to forest maintenance).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a word that came into use during the 13th century, but it wasn\u2019t until the Ancien Regime (the two centuries preceding the French Revolution) that it became associated with the practice of taking wood from communal forests. By 1827, official rules of \u2018affouage\u2019 had been drawn up as part of the \u2018Forest Code\u2019 – a collection of regulatory and legislative texts concerning the exploitation and protection of forests in France. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it Works<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0National Forestry Office<\/a>\u00a0(the ONF) earmarks the areas that can be used as communal forest, and it\u2019s up to the municipal councils who oversee those areas to decide whether or not they are indeed \u2018given\u2019 to local inhabitants for the purposes of affouage, or managed in an alternative manner. If the municipality decides to manage the forest through affouage, it divides the area into \u2018lots\u2019, which are then allocated to any residents who wish to partake in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as providing a way of maintaining the forests, there are two other major benefits of allocating land to residents for the purpose of affouage: It creates a strong link between the inhabitants of an area and their local forest, giving them a greater appreciation of their surroundings and the history of where they live; and it gives residents equal access to a cheaper source of fuel for heating and cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Affouage\u2019 and the Law<\/strong> in France<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course, as with anything that is offered for \u2018free\u2019 (in fact, it\u2019s not always free, as we shall see), there will always be those who can\u2019t resist the temptation to take more than they need. And there\u2019ll always be those who are more concerned with how the system can benefit them, than how it can benefit the land. For both these reasons, the practice is regulated – with criminal and civil penalties, ranging from small fines to imprisonment, issued to anyone caught breaking the rules (ie. damaging protected trees, cutting unmarked wood, setting fire to the forest or driving on forest soil). If you\u2019re wondering who\u2019s watching, the answer is the three local \u2018guarantors\u2019 appointed by the municipal council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting Started with \u2018affouage\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before running into the woods with your axe, you need to ask your mairie whether or not it\u2019s even possible to exercise your right to affouage in the area where you live. If it is, then you will need to get your name on a register, and you might also need to pay a tax \u2013 it\u2019s not often a lot (certainly no more than you\u2019d pay for the equivalent amount of ready-chopped wood), and sometimes there\u2019s no tax at all. You\u2019ll then be allocated a patch of land (drawn from a hat, as it were, to ensure that no-one is treated favourably and given the piece of land that\u2019s easiest to access, for example).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may need to invest in the right equipment before getting to work, too (unless you hire a company to do it for you, which is allowed). You\u2019ll need: a forestry helmet, gloves, trousers, safety shoes \/ boots, and industry standard tools. A first aid kit is also a good idea. And don\u2019t forget to create a wood store back at home, as you\u2019ll need to dry your wood before using it \u2013 the general rule is one year per inch of thickness, which means this is definitely not a quick, cheap way of getting firewood; when you exercise your right to affouage, you\u2019re in it for the long haul!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With wood burning appliances becoming more and more efficient, the ancient French tradition of \u2018affouage\u2019 \u2013 which gives individuals the right to gather wood from a local forest – is making a comeback. As a way of maintaining woodland, it\u2019s great news for the environment, and it\u2019s good for your pocket, too. Tempted? Us too! Which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[58,57],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","tag-communal-forest-in-france","tag-wood-for-your-woodburner","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions\/628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artisan-central.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}