Monday, in Méry-sur-Oise, will be planted a maple. This is the first forest of a new forest that will ultimately have more than a million, on the plain of Pierrelaye-Bessancourt, in the Val d'Oise. All on soils made non-cultivable by decades of spreading.

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"What are these trees, there are poplars there, well, they'll plant them there." For the past ten days, Jules has seen trucks lined with tree shoots in front of his house. Jules lives in Méry-sur-Oise, where, on Monday, the first tree - a maple - is to be symbolically planted with a brand new forest. It will be located on the plain of Pierrelaye-Bessancourt, and will eventually extend over 1,350 hectares, spread over seven municipalities of Val d'Oise. The region was not chosen at random: its soils, partly polluted by the spreading of the last century, can no longer be cultivated.

"We have rabbits, maybe tomorrow there will be squirrels"

"Oaks, charms, some birch trees, wild cherry trees, local trees," says Bernard Tailly, in charge of the project in his capacity as president of the joint planning union of the plain of Pierrelaye-Bessancourt. In the end, more than a million trees will cover these vast plains of Val d'Oise.

"This forest will participate in the quality of the green belt of the Ile-de-France, we will capture CO2, it is particularly relevant, and it will obviously create biodiversity for the sector", welcomes the one who is also mayor of Frépillon. "We have rabbits, maybe tomorrow there will be other things, squirrels for example."

"Rehabilitate the site"

The forest also aims to give new life to these lands polluted by decades of spreading. "It was a way to reuse these soils, to rehabilitate the site, to preserve it in a natural space on the green belt of Ile-de-France," confirms Bernard Tailly. But for that, it will be necessary to be patient: 5 to 10 years before all the trees are planted, and 30 to 50 years so that the forest does not arrive at maturity.