Timber-producing plan by the French (5)
I believe the answer is:
maple
'timber' is the definition.
(maple is a type of timber)
'plan by the french' is the wordplay.
'plan' becomes 'map' (plan can mean a map of something).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'map'+'le'='MAPLE'
'producing' is the link.
(Other definitions for maple that I've seen before include "Its leaf is the emblem of 8 down" , "Leaves on this" , "Tree providing syrup" , "Tree: its leaf the Canadian emblem" , "Tree of Acer genus" .)