Pro Silva France

What Pro Silva France does

Pro Silva France is a French nonprofit association (loi 1901), founded in 1989 in Alsace and recognized as being of public utility since 2013, dedicated to promoting Sylviculture Mélangée à Couvert Continu (SMCC) — Continuous Cover Forestry — as an alternative to clear-cutting in French forest management. The association disseminates practitioner knowledge through a regional network of 14 groups across France, training programs, field tours (tournées SMCC), webinars, and technical publications, serving private forest owners, forestry professionals, and institutional partners including ONF (Office National des Forêts), CNPF (Centre National de la Propriété Forestière), and AgroParisTech.

The organization's core technology is the SMCC methodology itself: an irregular, continuous, close-to-nature silvicultural approach supported by proprietary pedagogical tools (marteloscopes and travailloscopes) and a Reference Forests Network with permanent monitoring plots covering diverse forest contexts (limestone plateaus, Lorraine plateau, Vosges, mixed hardwoods). Notable infrastructure includes the cross-border Askafor European cooperation project (2021-2022) with Forêt.Nature (Belgium) and Interreg Grande Région funding, which installed demonstration sites across France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. The association also maintains the Forêts-Irrégulière-Écoles educational network and conducts periodic national surveys (2015, 2020, 2025) tracking SMCC-managed surfaces and marketed volumes.

Pro Silva France operates a community-led go-to-market model with a small salaried team of 7 staff distributed across Nancy and Manosque offices (plus the legal headquarters in Barr), supported by a large volunteer practitioner network. Revenue derives from three streams: recurring annual membership fees from 500+ members (2025), professional training services for forest managers and elected officials, and donations benefiting from public-utility tax deductions. Operations are governed by a 22-member Board of Directors and a 6-person Bureau; President Evrard de Turckheim has led the organization since 2013. The 2024-2028 strategic plan targets making Continuous Cover Forestry the majority forest management approach in France by 2040.

Name

Pro Silva France

Legal name

Pro Silva France

Website

https://prosilva.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Pro Silva France is a French nonprofit association founded in 1989 that promotes Continuous Cover Forestry (Sylviculture Mélangée à Couvert Continu) to forest owners, managers, and forestry professionals through training, field tours, and a 14-group regional network spanning 500+ members.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Forestry Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Forestry (1153), Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

SIC

Forestry (800)

akta.pro primary industry

Forest Certification, Compliance & Chain-of-Custody Support (AFAMAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Certification Gap Assessment & Readiness Consulting (AFAMALAE), Reforestation & Afforestation Services (Planting, Site Prep, Regeneration) (IMAMAAAE)

Keywords

• Continuous cover forestry
• Sustainable forest management
• Forestry training services
• Silviculture consulting
• Forest practitioner network

Headquarters

HQ city

Barr

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: Annual membership fees from forest owners, managers, professionals and forest enthusiasts. Members receive benefits including tax deductions (organization recognized as being of public utility since 2013).
2. Training Services: Professional training programs including formations for managers, customized training, and sessions for elected officials, territories, and forestry students. Training activities are a core part of the association's mission.
3. Donations and Financial Support: Support from donors and financial partners who benefit from tax deductions due to the association's public utility status.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Pro Silva France is a nonprofit forestry association that promotes and disseminates the Sylviculture Mélangée à Couvert Continu (SMCC) — Continuous Cover Forestry — a sustainable forest management approach that maintains continuous forest cover without clear-cutting. It delivers professional training programs, regional field tours, webinars, technical publications, and operates reference forests and the Forêts-Irrégulière-Écoles educational network for forest owners, forest managers, elected officials, and forestry students in France.

Product overview

Pro Silva France operates as a single unified offering centered on promoting and disseminating the Sylviculture Mélangée à Couvert Continu (SMCC) approach to forest management. The organization provides a combination of training services (Formations), field-based regional tours (Tournées Régionales), online webinars, and technical publications. Key initiatives include the European ASKAFOR cooperation project, a network of reference forests for long-term monitoring, and the Forêts-Irrégulière-Écoles educational network. All products and services are oriented toward spreading continuous cover forestry practices throughout France.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SMCC (Sylviculture Mélangée à Couvert Continu): Sylviculture Mélangée à Couvert Continu (SMCC) is the core sylvicultural approach championed by Pro Silva France — also known as 'sylviculture irrégulière, continue et proche de la nature' (SICPN), or in English as 'Continuous Cover Forestry'.

Products and services

• Sylviculture Mélangée à Couvert Continu (SMCC) A forestry management methodology that maintains continuous forest cover without clear-cutting, based on irregular treatment and respect for natural forest ecosystem processes. It is the foundational technical offering that Pro Silva France disseminates.
• Formations Pro Silva Professional training programs for forest managers covering SMCC principles, including formations for managers, customized trainings (Formations à la carte), and specialized sessions for elected officials, territories, and forestry students (Journées Élus, Territoire, Étudiants forestiers).
• Tournées Régionales Pro Silva

Quantifiable outcome

• The 2025 national survey tracks surfaces managed under SMCC and volumes marketed, continuing surveys from 2015 and 2020
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Forêt.Nature (Belgium)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Lead partner of the Askafor project. Forêt.Nature coordinated the European cooperation project involving France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany to promote Continuous Cover Forestry.
• ONF (Office National des Forêts)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerONF accompanied and facilitated implementation of the Askafor project in Lorraine. Also collaborates on forest reference sites and training activities.
• CNPF (Centre National de la Propriété Forestière)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Askafor project to facilitate implementation in French territory, particularly in Lorraine region.
• AgroParisTechcoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaborated on Askafor project research components including growth models for irregular and mixed stands, renewal studies, and sociological research on SMCC adoption barriers.
• Association Futaie Irrégulière (AFI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSister organization of Pro Silva France, both promoting irregular forestry treatment. AFI helped improve training content and shares the same mission of promoting Continuous Cover Forestry.
• Pro Silva EuropacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean network of foresters promoting Continuous Cover Forestry, with over 25 national delegations in Europe plus a delegation in the USA. Pro Silva France participates in annual study trips and European initiatives.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Regional players

• ID Forest - Institut pour le Développement Forestier: French forestry consulting and applied research firm providing forest management expertise to private owners. Comparable to Pro Silva France's advisory mission but operates as a private commercial entity rather than a nonprofit association.

Broad incumbents

• AgroParisTech Centre de Nancy: Leading French agronomy and forestry engineering school with research and teaching on SMCC. A research partner of Pro Silva France, but operates as an academic institution with broader curriculum and degree programs.
• FSC France: French chapter of the Forest Stewardship Council. Functions as a parallel sustainability framework to Pro Silva France's approach, with overlap in promoting responsible forest management but operating via certification rather than direct practitioner training.
• PEFC France: French branch of PEFC, the pan-European forest certification system. Comparable to Pro Silva France in promoting sustainable forestry, but PEFC is a certification scheme rather than a practitioner training network.
• Office National des Forêts (ONF): French national forest agency managing state forests. A core partner of Pro Silva France in training and reference forests, but ONF is a public operator with a much broader silvicultural mandate beyond continuous cover forestry.
• Centre National de la Propriété Forestière (CNPF): French public institution supporting private forest owners nationally. A partner of Pro Silva France on the Askafor project but with a broader remit covering all private forest management approaches, not exclusively SMCC.

Direct peers

• Forêt.Nature (Belgium): Belgian association promoting continuous cover forestry through training, field tours, and reference forests. Lead partner of the Askafor project with Pro Silva France, operating an essentially identical mission in Wallonia.
• Pro Silva Europe: European federation of Pro Silva national associations covering 25+ countries. Pro Silva France is a national delegation within this network, sharing the common methodology and participating in annual study trips.
• Association Futaie Irrégulière (AFI): Direct sister organization promoting irregular/continuous cover forestry in France. Shares the same mission and board members (Julien Tomasini is President of AFI and administrator of Pro Silva France), making it the closest direct peer in mission and activities.

Others

• Compagnons de la Forêt / Fransylva: French forest owners' union representing private forest owners nationally. Adjacent to Pro Silva France's constituency but focused on advocacy and economic interests rather than silvicultural methodology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pro-silva-france

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles22 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pro Silva France