On the occasion of the title of Grenoble European Green Capital 2022, the Bastille is elected Totem place of this year and the Régie du Téléphérique is more committed than ever!
“To give back its place to nature, in the heart of the city and around the city, for the benefit of the fauna, the flora, their interactions and the functionalities of the soil. »
Grenoble European Green Capital Agency 2022
The Bastille hill offers a rich and preserved natural heritage. Reasoned mowing and mowing, the small mountain is preserved but still wild. The Régie du Téléphérique has focused on the essential points of nature and biodiversity with its partners in recent years.
Did you know ?
The Bastille is classified as an area of ecological, floristic and faunal interest as part of the inventory of remarkable natural sites.
Fauna: On the Bastille, there is life! “In this oasis in the middle of the conurbation, wildlife still finds favorable places for nesting, hunting and wintering” (source: Livre de la Bastille de Grenoble et son Téléphérique). As the seasons go by, the animals find refuge in the Bastille. The diversity of the site’s environments (hillsides, dry meadows, escarpments and cliffs) is home to insects (praying mantis, butterfly, etc.), birds (Eurasian eagle-owl, shrike, etc.) and mammals (European hare , foxes, hedgehogs, etc.). You have to be very discreet to approach them.
The pond of the Bastille: The agents of the city of Grenoble and the LPO (League for the Protection of Birds) dug and modeled the edges then the animal species come naturally to colonize the environment. A new pond was designed in May 2021 in order to accommodate two other endangered species: the palmate newt and the alpine newt. The ecosystem plays an essential role in the ecological network, it is for this purpose that a “Green and Blue contract” has been set up by the metropolis of Grenoble in partnership with the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region, which is committed to the “Pond Restoration Plan”. In fact, ponds promote biodiversity and they serve as refuges for many endangered species such as amphibians, but also serve as a place for regulating and purifying water.
Two webbed newts, a protected species present at Fort de la Bastille © Gilles San Martin
Deux tritons palmés, espèce protégée présente au fort de la Bastille © Gilles San Martin Deux tritons palmés, espèce protégée présente au fort de la Bastille © Gilles San Martin
A male alpine newt, a species also present at Fort de la Bastille © Piet Spaans
Un triton alpestre mâle, espèce également présente au fort de la Bastille © Piet Spaans
Flora: Campanula, Spindle, Orchids, Pistachio, Rock Violet… Have you ever seen all of these species on the site? The Bastille has inventoried 30 of them and is today covered with vegetation combining mountain and Mediterranean species. The flora of the places is strongly influenced by the microclimate. Many species, such as maple, thrive on the slopes of the hill. Of course the hand of man has made it possible to diversify the flora by planting many species in order to hide the fortifications. You should know that picking on the Bastille site is regulated.
Eco-grazing: The Green Spaces Department of the City of Grenoble has found an ecological and economical way to maintain dangerous areas that are difficult for humans to access in Bastille. Indeed, the Fortification of the site is a succession of steep slopes where the brush can test the solidity and the reading of the fortified work. It is following these reflections that eco-grazing began in 2014 on the site. Thus each spring, from April to May, different breeds of sheep and donkeys come successively to graze on the brambles and bushes at the Bastille.
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