This is the first article of a special feature (dossier) on the sustainable management of mixed forests in France. This type of forest is well represented in the country and constitutes an interesting asset to sustainable forest management. The article describes the particular context of these forests and presents a general philosophy for their sustainable management based on the results of a 4-year research project: ECOGER (Ecologie pour la Gestion des Ecosystemes et de leurs Ressources - Ecology for the Management of Ecosystems and their Resources). It also offers a synthesis of the each of the other 6 contributions to the dossier.