Environmental aspects of the Sambro-Meuse poplar culture

The poplar groves are new biotopes in which the wildlife of semi-open ecosystems multiplies. We consider here some aspects of the management of those environments and its intensive sylviculture. The framework of this analysis is the poplar cultivation system of the Wallon Region in Belgium. There, the plantations of poplars are mainly related to the watershed area of the Meuse, the Sambre and a few tributaries of the Shelde.