Nécessité et ambiguïté récréative de la forêt : le cas du Nord-Pas-de-Calais

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, in spite of its high density of population (315 inhabitants/ km²) and the policy which has been carried out for more than 15 years by the National Office of Forests, owns but few wooded areas open to the public (225 m2 per inhabitant). Now, the large attendance (about 10 million visitors a year in the forests of the region) proves that it is a need, especially on part of the city-dwelling population of the neighbourhood who constitute the greatest part of the visiting public. In these conditions, it is often delicate to maintain the three functions assigned to the forests — economic, ecological, recreative. A certain balance can subsist only if measures aiming at the public's education and their orientation towards other leisure areas are added to the equipment and regulations specific to forests.