Par Valentin Lebosse
Published on Sep 9, 23 at 5:12 p.m. See my news Follow 76actu Ponds play a key role in the life cycle of several animal species and help limit runoff. (©Cailly-Aubette-Robec watershed union)
Habitations from frogs, breeding grounds of toads, pantries of the heron, water troughs boars, THE mares are all of this and much more. Unfortunately, ” their number has decreased significantly in the last century because of Man who blocked them or stopped maintaining them,” explains Véronique Lecomte, director of Cailly-Aubette-Robec watershed union.
This is why the public establishment has launched a program creation and restoration of ponds in several towns around Rouen (Seine-Maritime). For 2023, a tender was released on August 25. Here’s what it covers.
Seven ponds to create or restore around Rouen
“We have been working on the subject for several years,” recalls Véronique Lecomte. So far, we have carried out an inventory of ponds and their populations. We are moving from a phase of studies and knowledge to a phase of work and achievements. »
Four projects, two creations and two restorations, have already been undertaken in 2022: two to Esteville, one to Cleres and one to Saint-André-sur-Cailly.
Seven more are scheduled for 2023, as part of the said public market. Six creations and a restoration are planned Beautot, La Houssaye-Béranger, Clères, Préaux, Saint-Aubin-Épinay, Saint-Georges-sur-Fontaine and maybe Quincampoix.
Largely subsidized work
“We are launching consultations to obtain prices but these are works that we are not yet completely sure of carrying out,” procrastinates the director of the watershed union.
In fact, the organization must first sign agreements with owners of the land concerned – “much in private domain” – so that these “guarantee us the sustainability of the developments carried out”.
Videos: currently on News In 2023, the Cailly-Aubette-Robec watershed union plans to create or restore seven ponds in the Rouen region. (©Cailly-Aubette-Robec watershed union)
These arrangements each cost “between 4,000 and 8,000 euros”, subsidized “to 80 % over there Region and theSeine-Normandy water agency “. They are carried out with the scientific and technical support of Conservatory of natural spaces (CEN).
The projects scheduled this year will take place “in November-December, before the amphibian laying periods (frogs, toads, newts, etc.)”, specifies Véronique Lecomte. In the years to come, the union plans to carry out “around ten projects per year”.
Carefully chosen locations
To choose the most suitable places for creating or restoring ponds, the union worked on both their “multifunctionality” and their “connectivity”. In other words, “their role in terms of biodiversity and runoff management”, as well as the formation of “networks of ponds” allowing animals to circulate between them, explains Véronique Lecomte.
“The idea is that two existing but isolated ponds can be connected by a new pond between the two. Some can also be located in runoff axes and retain water in the event of heavy rain,” adds Marie Delestrées.
Better protect ponds
This master 2 student in “ecology and restoration of degraded environments” at the University of Lille has just completed a six-month internship at the Cailly-Aubette-Robec watershed union. In total, she has inventoried the fauna of 21 ponds on the territory. Painstaking work, the objective of which is also to better protect these fragile environments.
“The legal definition of ponds is complicated, they are not always considered wetlands and there is no specific prohibition in the law on destroying them“, she elaborates. However, “we can preserve them indirectly, through the rules for protecting the species found there”.
Thus, Marie Delestrées “found in certain ponds in the territory, two species protected by law, the great crested newt and the agile frog« .
The great crested newt is a species of amphibian protected by law (a: male and female, b: female, c: male). (©Cailly-Aubette-Robec watershed union)
Another interest of this inventory: the possibility of registering the ponds concerned in the water development and management plan (Sage), which is about to be revised. However, “local town planning plans (PLU) must establish protected zones taking into account Sage,” says the student.
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