Through Herve Pavageau
Published on
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The alert was given by Fransylva, federation to which are attached private foresters of Loire-Atlantique.
The call to action is now being taken up by the Association for the Defense of Hedges, which is currently being created. Association headed by Jean-François de Ramecourt.
The owner from forests, who is also president of departmental union of foresters, do not get angry “against the massacre of hedges Which multiplies.
This massacre is linked to « the systematic destruction of the remaining hedges by more and more powerful pruning machines, such as cutters, ”says Jean-François de Ramecourt indignantly.
These operations, which consist in cutting the crowns, the leaves that support the trees, are made to free the trees.electric ignites, the telephone lines or to improve visibility when cornering.
“But the catastrophe is yet to come: the aerial fiber optic now justifies three pruning per year, including during the bird nesting period, ”comments the spokesperson for the new association.
The tree lover recalls that:
If, in 100 years, the French forest has doubled in area, passing from 9 million to 17 million hectares, or 30% of the surface of the country, at the same time, the hedges of the edges of the fields were torn to more 50% in 60 years.
These cuts of hedges, shelters for birds and insects, have resulted, among other things, in a sharp drop in the number ofbirds and of small animals in 15 years. Less 18% for birds according to the LPO.
Bury networks
The association recognizes the high speed network needs for residents. But this deployment must “not destroy the hedges and nature”, condemns the leader of the association which asks that the telephone and fiber networks be buried, installation more expensive.
In the association’s sights, the savings made by operators by favoring the aerial solution, fiber installed on poles.
This saving is made at the expense of repeated maintenance measures that must then be carried out by pruning companies for many years, the cost then being borne by local communities, therefore our taxes, or by individuals directly.
Through his contacts forged with the network of foresters, Jean-François de Ramecourt was able to measure the movement of anger and protest caused by these practices.
“The first comebacks from the field date back a year. We couldn’t figure out what the reason for this destruction was. It was by investigating that we understood that it was linked to the arrival of optical fiber, ”he explains.
Among the returns, there is in particular that of an owner of the Nantes region. The man who owns woods and land in the south of the Loire and the Vendée has seen wild pruning on a young 20-year-old tree plantation.
“These are trees whose heads have been cut off. A cut that had no reason to exist, the trees being 15 meters from the line. “
Pruning: an edited guide to good practices
The Loire-Atlantique Department, a community that manages 4,300 km of roads, is going to publish a guide for the reasoned management of hedges. The document details the cutting schedule and best practices depending on the type of shrub.
The guide required “a lot of development work. We had to recover all the documents related to the protection of biotopes, flora and fauna, ”underlines Fabrice Slamani, head of the maintenance and road safety department for whom the destruction of hedges is linked to ignorance. “We are very vigilant. The Department has long taken the lead in environmental matters, ”continues Fabrice Slamani.
And to cite the implementation of zero phyto in the early 2000s or reasoned mowing. The guide will be distributed to all stakeholders and concessionaires working on the road network, as well as to municipalities and inter-municipal authorities.
Training sessions on the management of green and blue outbuildings (hedges and ditches) are also planned for community officials.
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Jean-François de Ramecourt called on elected officials to “stop the massacre”.
Among them : Maurice Perrion, elected from his territory, which is also vice-president of the Pays de la Loire region, in particular in charge of environmental issues.
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