The Loire landscape

Abstract

At the level of a river, the landscape cannot be limited to a series of more or less particular sites to be protected. River is a data that must be considered in its globality. The « Conservatoire régional des rives de la loire et de ses affluents » is an association whose goal is to protect and valorize the landscape. We have selected to work on the areas that belong to the flooding zone and that seemed not only to be the most characteristic but that really had an identity that links human activities and the river life. Our work tries to understand the evolution of these landscapes and to organize the necessary awareness and information campaign. It deals with built as well as natural landscape. The Loire flooding area, in the Loire region, offers three main types of landscape which have been analyzed. Each of these three territories has then been studied, taking into account the notions of closed space and open space, the main perspectives as well as their functioning (soil occupation, biological wealth, existing poplar plantations and bocage). The Conservatoire has tasked an expert to study the project and to monitor the work by training the administration agents who are usually involved as well as the companies.