Landes forest
Landes forest Maritime pine |
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The Landes forest (pronounced
Geography
The forest (also known as the 'moors of Gascony', and formerly, the 'moors of Bordeaux') covers a large portion of
Origin as a pine plantation
The forest is composed mostly of maritime pine, Pinus pinaster. Unlike many other European forests, the Landes forest is almost entirely created and managed by man for industrial purposes. This massive pine plantation was started in the 18th century in the Pays de Buch area of Gironde, to halt erosion and cleanse the soil.
History
Most of the region now occupied by the Landes forest was swampy land that was sparsely inhabited until the 19th century, when the
The area of the forest is estimated to be around 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi), of which nine-tenths is exclusively devoted to a
Agriculture and industry
Before the mid-19th century, only the breeding of sheep on the moors (and the production of sheep manure as a soil amendment) allowed the cultivation of rye. Because of wet winters, it was necessary to top-dress the land with thatch to preserve it for the next growing season. The disappearance of the moors, because of the expansion of the pine plantations, brought about the end of this herding and wetland grain-growing culture, and the iconic image of shepherds on stilts disappeared as well. The shepherd image was replaced by the image of the resin-collector with his tools.
In the first part of the 20th century, extensive commercial exploitation of wood,
See also
- Voies Ferrées des Landes (VFL), grouping of railway companies operating in the forest.
- Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne
References
- ^ https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/bitstream/handle/11222.digilib/114125/N_GraecoLatina_13-2008-1_4.pdf?sequence=1 [bare URL PDF]
- ^ de Larquier, Ségolène (2009-01-26). "Après le passage de la tempête, la filière du bois en souffrance". Le Point (in French). Retrieved 2010-06-11.
Sources
This article is based on a translation from the original French Wikipedia article as it appeared on November 11, 2006 which cite the following sources:
- Francis Dupuy, Le pin de la discorde: Les rapports de métayage dans la Grande Lande, Paris, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 1996
- François Sargos, "Forêt des landes de Gascogne, une nature secrète" Editions Sud Ouest, Bordeaux, 2008
- Christian Maizeret, Les Landes de Gascogne, Delachaux et Niestlé, Paris, 2005
- Jacques Sargos, Histoire de la Forêt landaise - Du désert à l'âge d'or, Bordeaux, L'horizon chimérique, 1997, rééd. en 2004.
- Massif des Landes de Gascogne - Inventaire forestier 1998 1999 2000, IFN
- L'Ours Pécheur, de ISBN 978-2-913406-58-2