The first big fire which burned 1,500 hectares in the Alpilles, in 1989, caused nothing but turmoil. The second, ten years later, created awareness. But it was after that of 2003 that consultation was put in place around Aureille. The village of 1,575 souls, in the Baux valley, stretches over 2,274 ha, of which 3% is in an artificial zone. “We have the wet and dry Crau and the foothills of the Alpilles, explains the mayor, Lionel Escoffier. Natura 2000 sites and others cover 98% of the municipality. With a strategic position like this, we are right in the heart of biodiversity and risks.“
In addition to creating gaps to reduce the impact of fires pushed by the mistral, the joint association of the Alpilles regional natural park called on an ancestral tradition: pastoralism.
Thanks to the Life financing program, herds of goats and sheep have returned to graze, for around ten years, in areas left to brush and fires.
“The goats complement mechanical grinding and it is effective, underlines Jean-Michel Pirastru, at the joint union. We made strategic fuel cuts, near the village of Aureille. We resolved usage conflicts with hunters.”
A gentle method that works. “It modifies the behavior of the fire by slowing it down“, notes Sylvaine Eze at the Regional Environmental Directorate (Dreal). Nothing to stop it, the swirling winds of 2022 having made it “jump” into the hills. But the progress is real and has made it possible to rehabilitate the environments.
