This Val-d'Oise island will be transformed into a biodiversity sanctuary

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Property of the municipality of L'Isle-Adam (Val-d'Oise), but administratively attached to Champagne-sur-Oise, the island of Champagne will be transformed, in a few years, into a new nature reserve.

This is the project carried out by the town of L'Isle-Adam, the Department of Val-d'Oise, two intercommunalities (Haut Val-d'Oise and Vallée de l'Oise and Trois-Forêts) and the Iasef association .

Sanctuary island

Located in the middle of the Oise, this green setting of 16,185 m² is a little corner of paradise rich in its biodiversity and abandoned men. Hairy teasel, bats and twenty-nine species of birds have flourished there for years.

“This island has interesting environmental potential and our desire is to protect it,” explains Morgan Touboul, deputy mayor of L'Isle-Adam, departmental councilor (Lr) and president of the Joint Syndicate of the Banks of the Oise (Smbo). We want to make it a sensitive natural space, first local and then with a departmental vocation. This project has substance and is unanimous. »

Concentration and diversity of species

An inventory of the fauna and flora of the site highlighted the presence of 97 plant species, a quarter of which are non-native.

Twenty-nine species of birds live alongside several land mammals (squirrel, field mouse, mole and wild boar), butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies and green frog.

Almost inaccessible to the public, the interest of the site also lies in the concentration and diversity of these species in an isolated space.

Summer camp

Until the early 1990s, the island of Champagne was home to a summer camp. The buildings and play areas are still in place, but nature has taken back its rights.

“We are going to preserve the building. It would cost too much to demolish everything and these buildings can serve as shelter for certain species such as bats, adds the elected official from Adama. The island also has an interesting geographical position: it is an ecological corridor with an environment very favorable to biodiversity. It's an interesting surface, but it's not much compared to the Rosière area located just opposite. »

Small jobs

A first steering committee met on November 5, 2024 and validated the first orientations.

The Departmental Council will soon launch preliminary studies and work proposals will be made. The goal is not to open this island to the public.

“It wouldn’t lend itself to it and it’s complicated,” says Morgan Touboul. The City of Champagne will propose to classify the site as a Sensitive Natural Area and we will then carry out small works to protect it. »

This project should start in spring 2026, as soon as the Departmental Council has completed the development of Herblay Island into a biodiversity sanctuary.

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