Cevennes National park
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INTRODUCTION
The Cevennes national park* is a French national park created on September 2nd, 1970, covering the area natural of the Cevennes and located mainly in the departments of Lozere and Gard, like in less part in Ardeche and Aveyron.
The Cevennes national park presents several characteristics which distinguishes it from the other French national park : it is the only French national park in terrestrial zone located on average mountain, whose central zone is inhabited by permanent residents, and where hunting is regulated but not prohibited.
HISTORY
Created by decree of September 2nd, 1970, the park of Cevennes extends on 91 279 ha. In 1984, the park is twinned with the national park of Saguenay* to Quebec. It enters in 1985 the global area network of the reserves of the biosphere launched by UNESCO*. The park is also twinned with the Montseny reserve* in Catalonia.
HYDROGRAPHY
The national park is traversed by 7 100 km of waterway. Approximately 400 sources feed this hydrographic network. This richness was worth in Lozere the name of "Country of the sources". These mediums have a strong financial asset and a significant functional role. These are also fragile mediums that it is necessary to preserve.
BIOSPHERE RESERVE
The Cevennes National park was indicated reserve of biosphere by UNESCO* in 1985. The base of a reserve of biosphere is the conciliation between conservation of the biodiversity, social economic development and, maintenance of the cultural values which are associated there.
It is not a territory under bell from where the man east excludes, but an alive territory, selected to be the ground of application of the program Man and biosphere (MAB)* of UNESCO*. This program consists in promoting a mode of economic development and social based on the conservation and the valoristion of the local resources, and for which the citizen participation is favoured.
The priorities of a reserve of biosphere are to contribute to the conservation of the ecosystems, the landscapes, of the animal species and vegetable, to encourage an economic development respecting nature and the local culture, to set up research projects which help with the management of the territories, to ensure a continuous monitoring of the environment to know the state of planet, to encourage training and education, to support the implication of the populations in the catch of the decisions relating to their area. France counts 10 reserves of biosphere and there are some more than 500 in the world.
PROTECTION
Protection and the conservation are the two main missions of a national park. They relate to all the forms of the inheritance: flora, the domestic wildlife and, the traditional architecture built on the schist, limestone and granite, culture, activities traditional.
FLORA OF THE PARK
Rich person and diversified, the flora of the park of the Cevennes does not count less than 11 000 species of plants of which 2 250 are plants with flowers. One will also notice within the park of association vegetable remarkable and endemic such as the peat bogs of the Lozere Mount and the Aigoual Mount, the pseudo-steppe caussenarde unique in France and the anthropic chestnut grove of the Cevennes.
THE FAUNA OF THE PARK
The park of the Cevennes counts 2 410 animal species of which 45% are the vertebrate ones and 2/3 of the mammals that one meets in France, 20 species of chiroptera on the 30 recenced in France and also of many bird of prey* very threatened such as: The golden eagle*, the Short-toed Eagle, the Peregrine Falcon* or the Eurasian Eagle Owl.
The site is also privileged by the establishment of the Griffon Vulture, the Cinereous Vulture and the Egyptian Vulture. Richness of fauna of park is characterized by presence of 70 species of mammals (on the 135 that one counts in France), 195 species of birds (from which 135 nest in the site), 16 species of Amphibians, 15 species of reptiles, 23 fish species and more than 2 000 species of invertebrates (including 1 824 of insects).
Mammals :
The most outstanding element of these last decades concerning the mammals in France, and the Cevennes, is the reappearance of the species of big size. If the return of the ungulates* (wild boar, stag*, roe-deer, mouflon, and for the solid masses other than the Cevennes, chamois and ibexes) is the fact of a voluntary action of the man, that of carnivores like the otter, the wolf* and the lynx* results from a spontaneous expansion of these species.
Birds :
The fauna of the birds of the national park is characterized by a very great richness in two particular groups : bird of prey* (with 27 species, including 3 of vultures) and birds of the open mediums in particular related to the extremely particular landscape of the vast lawns of causses and the tops.
Invertebrates :
Although rich person of more than 2 000 species, the inventory of the invertebrates of the park is far from being completed and must be continued. Staging of this territory, Mediterranean Piedmont at the tops of Lozere and of Aigoual, and the great diversity of the mediums are at the origin of this richness.
EXTERNAL LINKS
http://www.cevennes-parcnational.fr
http://www.cevennes-tourisme.fr
http://atlas.parcsnationaux.org
http://point2vue.over-blog.com
