摘要：With the agricultural economy of the Central Pyrenees in steady decline, natural forest stands are colonising abandoned agricultural meadows. The present study seeks to define the economic conditions for a new fuel-wood local economy based on these extensions of the forest cover. Farmer/forest owners are capable of exploiting this resource, involving logging, hauling and cutting the wood to size, to meet their own heating needs. In this way, owners could thus recuperate a maximum unit value estimated at 11.2 to 22.3 € per stere (1 cubic metre), or an average value of 16.8 € per stere after deduction of all costs. An economy based on wood energy, using wood from spontaneously generated forest growth on private land, is therefore possible. A development policy for such an activity could be envisaged with appropriate initiatives to stimulate the owners of land where spontaneous ash reforestation has occurred to harvest this potential resource.
