Life Elia

On May 22^nd and 23^rd 2015, the LIFE Elia-RTE site of the Forêt d'Orient, in Brienne-la-Vieille (Aube Department, 10) was put under the spotlights as part of the national Nature Festival celebrated throughout France. On this occasion, an educational panel was inaugurated and animations were set up for school pupils and the general public. They were guided in forest trench under the high-voltage line connecting Creney in Froncles.

Signature of the agreement

On Saturday, May 23^rd, the different partners that contributed to the success of this project were welcomed to the village of Brienne-la-Vieille where the agreement was signed to formalize the partnership.

The agreement was signed by Mr. CERF (mayor of Brienne-la-Vieille), Mr. GUY (RTE, French TSO), Mr. DIALLO (Regional Nature Park of Forêt d'Orient), Mr. GONY (Conservatory of Natural Areas Champagne -Ardenne), Mr. Bouvin (shepherd) and Mr. JADOUL (LIFE Elia-RTE project).

During the signature, a leaflet dedicated to the LIFE project in Forêt d'Orient was officially presented. It reflects the successful collaboration and dynamism of a series of partners who worked for the success of this joint project.

Educational field trips

The Nature Festival is a great opportunity to raise awareness to a wide audience about the preservation of biodiversity.

In this context, Friday, May 22nd, 22 students in primary school and 54 students from Dienville College Julien Regnier from Brienne-le-Château walked under the power line from the Ecomuseum of the Forêt d'Orient at Brienne-la-Vieille.

After wlaking on the "sheep trail", students arrived in the forest trench where they were able to discover a didactic panel illustrating the natural treasures present in the line. Further on, the encounter with a sheep herd belonging to Mr. Bouvin has undoubtedly arisen their curiosity.

These sheep graze on vegetation under the powerline and gradually, by eating the leaves of trees and shrubs, will limit their growth and prevent electrical accident caused by trees. Tractors have therefore been replaced by a rustic but no less effective sheep flock. It is explained to the children by RTE and by the LIFE team.

The site visit was completed by an animation on the interest of the forest edges. Indeed, part of the forest is quite steep, vegetation management will now be more "gardened": only the shrubs not exceeding a few meters high will be preserved. Trees that can eventually endanger the line because of their final height will be removed before they become problematic.

This will ultimately lead to the creation of dense shrub edges where the larger species (black locust, ash, aspen, ...) will have difficulties to grow. The didactic panel installed on site inform the general public about all these elements.

A nice edition of Nature Festival on a French site with dynamic partners!

All outcomes in the press are available for download below (in French only).