They tore up nearly a kilometer of hedges in the bocage on a site registered in the commune of Châteliers (Deux-Sèvres). A recurring phenomenon in Gâtine, which threatens biodiversity.
Nearly a kilometer of linear hedges, over an area of 12 hectares, was uprooted by two breeders in Chantecorps, in the town of Châteliers (Deux-Sèvres). The town hall filed a complaint in 2019 for the destruction of bocage hedges and a municipal road. Still at first instance, the Niort court ordered the two breeders to pay 23,204 euros in compensation at the beginning of March. The two breeders appealed the sentence imposed by the criminal court of Niort.
The uprooted hedges had been on a protected site since 1946. In Gâtine, the first hedges date back around 500 years. “If we start to let go of what makes the originality of the territory, namely the hedgerows, especially on a heritage site, it is very harmful and worrying for the future.“, comments Nicolas Gamache, the mayor of the town. “Fortunately, most farmers preserve our landscape from spoil“, he rejoices.
The hedges are home to several animal and plant species. A few kilometers further, Alexandre Boissinot is the curator of the Bocage des Antonins nature reserve, where more than 1,000 species live together. For him, the frequent uprooting in the region presents a real danger to biodiversity. “When hedges are uprooted, an entire habitat disappears, so species, such as reptilians, are threatened with extinction“, he worries. The phenomenon is recurrent. Each year, groves are destroyed in favor of cereal crops. “On a national scale, there are more uprootings than plantations. The erosion process is still present despite the plantations. We are still in a landscape that is deterioratinge” he laments. A natural park project throughout the Gâtine is underway. To do this, the preservation of hedgerows is one of the greatest challenges.
