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Although climatic disasters have been scrutinized for years, their impacts on changes in practices are unclear. Our contribution aims to question the adaptive strategies implemented by private forest owners following two major natural disasters: storm Klaus in 2009 (Landes de Gascogne Forest) and a severe drought in 2003 (Pays de Sault Forest). We hypothesize that the outcome of these disasters was neither a revolution nor a status quo but rather a so-called ‘assisted rerouting’. Our analysis shows that, ten years after these events, strategies have ranged from a return to routine to intensification of sylvicultural practices. The continuity observed despite these changes is due in particular to the experts’ epistemic authority, which, far from being challenged, was strengthened by the crisis-solving process. Finally, we suggest that such disasters should not be described only from the angle of future risks, but considered also as experiments that test the relevance and efficiency of adaptive strategies.