The French National forest inventory and your forest

You may have found a metal plate in your forest or on your land mentioning the National Forest Inventory (« Inventaire Forestier National », IFN) or the National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (« Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière », IGN), or a plain white metal plate. This page is specifically for you.

The "national forest inventory" is a mandatory statistical survey (like the population census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE)). This means that a response is required for your property (note that the information collected is strictly focused on the forest, not on the owner), and access to the land must be granted.

The selection of a sample plot on your property is solely due to the random drawing of points in the sampling plan covering the entire territory. The forest inventory has been recording information on forest plots since the 1960s. Since 2004 (implementation of a systematic inventory across the entire territory), data has been collected on more than 120,000 forest plots. You can view these plots and the information collected on them using the DataIFN tool.

After the measurements and observations have been completed, all that remains is a white metal plate at eye level, the staples indicating precisely where the circumference was measured at 1.3 metres, a wooden marker stake on the ground, and the staples that secured the field forms listing information on measured trees.
The plate, like the visit of an inventory team, should in no way affect your management decisions regarding the measured tree or, more generally, the inventory area.

To learn more about what IGN agents do on your property and what happens to the data collected, see the brochure opposite.