The massif is composed of a number of public forests: The massif is composed of a number of public forests:
the Fontainebleau national forest (17,117 hectares), a former royal forest;
the Trois Pignons national forest purchased by the State between 1972 and 1982 from its 2,000 landowners;
the Commanderie national forest which currently covers 1,416 hectares.
The massif is managed by ONF (Office National des Forêts), a public agency that is industrial and commercial in nature. The principles on which the ONF foresters operate are those of sustainable and multifunctional forest management.
Their aim is to ensure that all the riches and beauty of the celebrated Fontainebleau forest are preserved for future generations. They also aim to provide a living environment that will guarantee the generational renewal of all the area’s flora and fauna, because it is through the dynamism of their regeneration that living beings are able to achieve continuity.
The foresters, working in consultation with scientists and all the partners concerned, formulated an action plan in a management document to be implemented over a 20 year period (1996-2015); in this the national forest of Fontainebleau is divided into five management sections.
The priority objectives chosen are:
the conservation of the ecological and landscape qualities of the site;
the provisions for visitors and education about the forest;
the upkeep and renewal of plantations, and;
the pursuit of high technological quality in the timber harvested.
With the help of the scientific committee, various actions designed to protect and renew species and habitats of particular interest in the biological reserves have been organised. In practice, these approaches have taken the form of a range of activities that include:
inventories and scientific observations in the unmanaged reserves;
inventories, observations and also actions such as the partial cleaning of ponds, felling of overly invasive trees, grass cutting, etc, in the managed biological reserves;
improvement of sites and landscapes by redeveloping parking areas, opening up areas and restoring sites and monuments, etc;
rejuvenation – cutting over limited areas to encourage renewal via young seedlings of all types of vegetation, and;
thinning to introduce light, allowing each species to find its own place and develop.
Operational management is handled by three units which share the territory. They are directly dependent on the Seine and Marne Interdepartmental Agency.