Valuing woodland after a forest fire in France

Describe the damage first

CNPF’s January 2024 guidance calls for mapping affected zones and diagnosing damage, including at the edges. Apparently green trees may need monitoring. Pre-fire imagery no longer represents current conditions.

Separate the budget components

Consider land, recoverable timber, extraction and safety works, soil protection and regeneration. Slope and erosion can change the approach. Prompt harvesting is appropriate only where diagnosis, markets and applicable rules support it.

Another landscape beneath the trees. Illustrated woodland cutaway. — **Another landscape beneath the trees.**
Soil, water and site conditions help explain a stand. This cutaway illustrates questions to ask; it does not diagnose a property.
Explanatory illustration · not a depiction of an analysed property

Who receives compensation and pays for works?

Check whether timber is already sold and works are committed. Compensation received by the seller is not automatically money available to the buyer. Clarify the rights and obligations transferred in the sale documents.

Know the limits of a remote estimate

Request a field visit, quotations and a dated regeneration assessment. Natural regeneration or planting depends on the site. WoodWorth can prepare the scope and market evidence; a recent fire requires post-fire observations and appropriate professional assessment.

From guide to selection

Guides and the map are freely accessible. Personalised reports cost €9 incl. tax for 1 parcel up to 0.5 ha, €19 up to 5 parcels and 20 ha, then €59 up to 20 parcels and 100 ha. Payment coming soon; report access is currently complimentary. See a report on real parcels.

Sources and dates

Accessed 28 September 2026. Independent sources; no partnership implied.