After the Mont-Ventoux regional natural park (Vaucluse), the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region is pushing for the creation of another park, in the plain of the Maures (Var), to draw an arc of protected areas in an area highly exposed to climate change. This PNR took more than 10 years to be born: “everyone was fighting, farmers, hunters, walkers, municipalities, motorcyclists, cyclists”, and today “everyone is a winner”, explained Renaud Muselier, the president from the Paca region.
In two years, the structure has notably initiated the conversion of ski slopes into four-season sports and redeveloped the summit of Mont-Ventoux, a mythical cycling stopover point, at an altitude of 1,910 meters. This is the 9th regional natural park in the Paca region, in addition to the four national parks.
Hermann’s Tortoise Refuge
And Renaud Muselier is already thinking of a 10th PNR, on the Plaine des Maures where more than 7,000 hectares of forest were ravaged by a fire in the summer of 2021. This nature reserve is the refuge of Hermann’s tortoises, listed on the list national red of threatened and protected species at international and European level.
The creation of a PNR on this plain, in the hinterland of Saint-Tropez, would make it possible to “complete an inner arc” with a succession of protected parks: Mont-Ventoux, Luberon, Alpilles, Verdon, Préalpes, to finish by the Mercantour National Park, lists Renaud Muselier.
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