Christophe de Balorre, president of the Department of Orne: “Mow less, mow better”

The Orne Department adopted in 2012, the so-called “reasoned” type of mowing » out of economic and ecological concerns. Its president, Christophe de Balorreand its road maintenance manager, Frédéric Farigoule, received us at the Departmental Council to explain the benefit of this type of mowing and the need to integrate it into their environmental policy.

“We have fully integrated this strategy into our Departmental Climate Plan,” says Christophe de Balorre, “with the aim to improve our environmental management, in its ecological and energy transitionby positioning itself as a unifier of the issues facing our territory, including biodiversity”.

Previously, focused solely on tourist attractions, the Orne road maintenance strategy aimed just to keep the shoulders clean. However, questioned on the ecological effects of regular mowing have led to a change of direction, which the Orne department took advantage of more than ten years ago with reasoned mowing.

“We then had to rethink our approach to better protect our wildlife and optimize our resources.”

Balance

Clearly, the department opted for a mowing higher and less frequentwhile giving priority to road safety. This method of mowing is a significant break with previous practices, “which sought the green effect”, admits the president of the department, before adding: “Our strategy now aims to balancing visibility for motorists, respect for biodiversity and operational costs. We have reduces the number of annual cuts and they are much less radical than before, especially the first two. This allows us to reduce both the costs and the environmental impact of our interventions. »

The idea is to relieve the department’s budget, promote biodiversity and flatter the eyes of visitorswhich, moreover, has changed profoundly in recent years.

Thanks to the relaxation of mowing methods, flora can flourish more spontaneously, offering more varied natural landscapes. “Tourists increasingly appreciate these less manicured but authentically beautiful environments,” notes Christophe de Balorre, “even if some do not yet understand the ecological interest,” he laments.

Orne thus aims for several objectives simultaneously.

“The balance to be found is to reduce fuel, pollution, material and labor costs while maintaining quality of service.”

Maintenance of 6,000 kilometres of roads represent an annual budget of more than one million euross for the Department, which calls on private companies to complete most of the service carried out by internal teams from the four departmental agencies, located in Sées, Gacé, Bellême, la Ferté Macé (see our report), led by Frédéric Farigoule . “If we outsourced all of the maintenance, the costs could rise to 2.5 million euros,” estimates the director of road management in Orne.

Invasive plants

When we ask Christophe de Balorre about invasive plantsthe president of the department of l’Orne answers, suddenly looking more serious: “Yes, it’s a subject, a real subject. Species such as Japanese knotweed have indeed become a concern in our region. This is a subject that we are following closely, and which is also part of our sustainable development strategy sensitive natural spaces. » (See our articles on the subject in this issue).

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