Our History

Twenty years ago, a joint initiative between USSE and INRA led to the establishment and launch of the Institut Européen des Forêts Cultivées (IEFC). The birth of the institute was led by Yves Lesgourgues, then Director of CRPF Aquitaine, and Michel Arbez, then Director of the INRA site in Pierroton.

The idea for this network originated back in 1987 when the pioneering spirit of foresters from Aquitaine, Galicia and the Spanish Basque Country led them to explore the forests of their neighbouring countries, while building friendships along the way; thus sowing the seed for two fruitful decades of collaboration and networking.

From its Atlantic-centered beginnings, today the IEFC board, led by its president Susana Barreiro of the Institute Superior of Agronomia, together with its committed network of partners and donors, resolutely takes steps to expand its horizon across the entire European continent and position IEFC as the premier resource center for sustainable planted forest management.