A major tree-cutting project is presently ongoing in the Grepon woods, just on the outskirts of Chamonix. It began on August 17, and logging should be completed by late November. The "Regional Forestry Centre" was given the task to clear 55 hectares of forest belonging to 32 owners, work that hadn't been done for 40 years. An Italian company has been commissioned to haul the wood out using a "cable boom" from a truck, and the trees will be cut without the branches being removed, a strategy that requires a gap eight to ten meters wide. In consequence, there will be a certain risk for the valley, namely the potential of increased avalanches & rock falls, before the forest regrows, a process which will obviously take many years.
