PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Town of Haguenau and the State of France are joint owners of one of the biggest lowland forests in Europe, covering 13,472 ha. The natural composition of this forest is mixed conifer and deciduous, which is unique in the French lowlands. Scots pines were originally restricted to the dune and peat bog areas within the site, but have spread to cover half of the forest, to the detriment of oaks and beeches. Furthermore, exotic tree species were introduced and a drainage system was laid out while forest regeneration is often a case of planting rows of trees. These factors all severely threatened the fragments of bog woodlands as well as the residual alluvial forest and the stands of original deciduous woodlands. The most representative forest habitats out of the 6 listed in the Habitats Directive have been suggested to be part of the Natura 2000 network. They host 9 species listed on Annex II: bats, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. The future Natura 2000 site thus consists of several smaller nuclei within the greater forest.
OBJECTIVES
The project aimed at: - Increasing the habitat and species knowledge of the forest under the Habitats Directive and producing a detailed map of those elements. - Producing a management plan for the six nuclei making up the pSCI, applying the national prescriptions for Natura 2000. It was foreseen to quantify the economic consequences of the management changes. - Experimenting the renaturalisation of Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) bog woodland on 5 ha. The project also foresaw the acquisition of a 1,5 ha enclave of residual alluvial forest. Following the management plan, information to the public was to be provided in the forest (using panels) and in the surrounding municipalities (exhibition, brochure…)
RESULTS
The main objective of the project was to produce the "document d’objectifs" for the Haguenau forest Natura 2000 site. This is a specific management plan designed for Natura 2000 sites and validated by national authorities. The project was unable to produce this document as the pSCI perimeter was modified during the project and some administrative procedures were delayed. Instead, a classic management guide was produced. It is planned to use this as a basis for the production of the real "document d’objectifs" by the beneficiary who was officially appointed by national authorities. The document should serve as a working basis for new areas of the pSIC sheltering the same habitat types, and it should facilitate the discussions during the local consultation. In addition, this management guide provides an evaluation of the economic consequences of implementating Natura 2000 in this site. Costs are low (around 6€ per year and per hectare) as the main forest management modifications (irregular stands and islets of ageing) were decided following the December 1999 storm which destroyed a large part of the forest. This disaster led to the implementation of new practices, favourable to the habitats and species of community interest. The management guide was based on the numerous studies carried out by the project (on amphibians, insects, bats and woodland habitats). The mapping of the woodland habitats and their conservation status was also realised, based on an intensive field survey (3500 samples on 830 ha). Most of the habitats (75%) were found to be in a satisfactory to excellent conservation state, except for the bog woodlands were degraded. The studies greatly increased the knowledge of the wildlife on the site. A species listed in the annex II of the habitats directive was discovered on the site for the first time: the moss Dicranum viride. The restoration of Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) bog woodland (code 91D0) was also carried out (spruce exportation and hydraulic restoration). As it was too early at the end of the project to evaluate the impact of this work, the beneficiary plans to continue to monitor the evolution of the habitat and, if necessary, to continue the restoration after the end of the project. The LIFE project enabled attention to be focused on this highly interesting habitat which was severely degraded before the restoration work began. As planned, a 1,5 ha enclave of residual alluvial forest was purchased during the project. With this acquisition, the State of France and the town of Haguenau are now owners of the whole project site. Some communication and public awareness actions were also carried out. The Natura 2000 site perimeters were delimited on the field and information panels installed.
