The protected natural site of the Grand Saulcy marsh welcomes the public to the former bed of the Moselle where reeds and willows grow freely, then to the forest overlooking the wetland. The elected officials of the metropolis were invited, Friday, to be inspired by this exemplary model.
–
Yesterday at 15:56 | updated yesterday at 20:54
The Old Waters
In the Grand Saulcy marshes, “the kids of the time waged their button wars. There were the guys from Moulins against those from Sainte-Ruffine, ”jokes Gérard Botella, deputy mayor of Sainte-Ruffine and ecological transition adviser to the metropolis of Metz. This place, “it was at the bottom of a hill, the waste water receptacle. It was called Old Waters”.
Gérard Botella, deputy mayor of Sainte-Ruffine, at the entrance to the Grand Saulcy marsh educational trail. Picture RL
At the end of the 1980s, the elected officials of Moulins-lès-Metz, Sainte-Ruffine and Jussy made it a voluntary reserve to protect the biodiversity of the places. Property of the CHR of Metz-Thionville, this territory as large as 17 football fields was rented for a time to the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) which made a first path there. In 2010, the Conservatory of Natural Spaces of Lorraine (CENL) acquired the wetland with the support of the Rhine Meuse Water Agency and the Grand Est Region. For the past three years, an educational trail has been used to explore the wetland.
The discovery trail of the Grand Saulcy marsh was completed three years ago for an amount of €101,873, supported by the Water Agency (€65,555), UEM, the Greater Region and the municipalities of Moulins and Sainte-Ruffine. Photo RL /Karim SIARI
The nugget
This “nugget in the heart of the metropolis” is too little known, according to Patricia Gout, general manager of Aguram, the Moselle urban planning agency which helps communities to develop their territory. The organization invited the elected officials on Friday to meet, on site, the actors of this project.
The development of the site (panels, wooden footbridge) cost less than €102,000, co-financed by the Water Agency, UEM, the Grand Est Region, Moulins-lès-Metz and Sainte-Ruffine. For the rest, the Conservatory intervenes as little as possible in the wetland.
At the Grand Saulcy marsh, Patricia Gout, general manager of Aguram, on the right, and Émilie Henniaux, intervention officer at the Rhine Meuse Water Agency (on the left). Photo R.L. /
The naturalist
Visitors have taken the wooden path overlooking the marsh where happy fauna chirp and croak. Nature, here, evolves freely. The reeds quiver, the ivy clings to the mossy willows, the mistletoe invites itself into the canopy.
“These circles are extremely rare in the Messin sector”, points out Nicolas Avril, facilitator at CENL. “Listen, close your eyes, open them”. Here are the green frogs and the winter wren, the black-capped warbler and the long-tailed tit, the robin here, the cuckoo there, the communal bells. And in the distance, in another world, a few engines roar.
After the marshes, the forest. Steep and muddy in rainy weather, it is home to streams and dead trees, reservoirs of humidity and biodiversity.
Nicolas Avril, animator at the Conservatory of Natural Spaces of Lorraine, regularly intervenes for visits with schoolchildren in the area. The elected officials would like to extend this activity to other schools in the city in the future. Photo RL /Céline KILLE KEDZIERSKI
The wetland
It all started when the Moselle left its bed in the 17the century. ” Landslide ? Accumulation of alluvium after intensive floods? “, enumerated Laura Jaillard, in charge of territorial mission at CENL. When it stopped flowing under the Vieux Pont de Moulins-lès-Metz, the wetland, linked to the water table of the river, replaced it in its bed.
How to reconcile protection and enhancement of protected natural sites, as here at the Grand Saulcy marsh? The site deserves to be known, but it must be respected. Photo RL /Karim SIARI
“The marsh was mown or grazed until the 1950s,” reads an educational panel. “The cessation of these practices has favored the natural return of the forest”.
Wetlands are now powerful allies in helping city dwellers cope with global warming. The difficulty, as Manuel Brocart, biodiversity advisor to the metropolis, points out, is “to open these natural places to the public while preserving them”.
An inventory of wetlands
• Sponges. – Since 2014, the management of aquatic environments and flood prevention (Gemapi) have been entrusted to the intermunicipalities. “ Wetlands are sponges that soak up rain, surface water, runoff, resurgences, floods. In summer, they drain and feed the soil nearby. They also play the role of natural purifiers by filtering water through plants, islands of freshness, reservoirs of biodiversity explained Ambre Baxa, Gemapi operation assistant.
• An inventory. – Since 2020, the metropolis has launched an inventory of wetlands throughout its territory, which prioritizes the sites according to the quality of the areas, their quantity and their biodiversity, intervened Florent Hayotte, Gemapi operations manager. “ Our PLUI has integrated the results of this inventory. New construction will be impossible in wet areas. » An action plan that concerns 1 200 hectares offers a catalog of solutions to communities : land acquisition, creation of a pond, limitation of drainage, etc.
Who.K.
Four reasons to let the forest grow free
Since the cessation of grazing and mowing in the old bed of the Moselle at Moulins-lès-Metz, the forest has returned to a large part of the wetland. The Conservatory of Natural Spaces of Lorraine (CEN Lorraine), ecological manager of the site, accepts his return and lets nature evolve freely without human intervention. On one of the educational panels on the trail, four reasons are given to explain this choice.
1. The multiple constraints that this natural space has to face in its immediate environment (urban planning in particular) limit the possibilities of development.
2. Any intervention here can favor the expansion of invasive alien species to the detriment of local species. Part of the site, for example, is “polluted” by bamboo.
3. The forest types that grow naturally here become rare and deserve to be favored.
4. The forest left to its natural evolution is better able to resist the various threats, starting with climate change and pollution.
#MoulinslesMetz #fragile #happiness #Grand #Saulcy #marsh
