My name is Pierre, and I am a geographer specializing in the environment and natural habitat management. I had the opportunity to write my final thesis at Domaine des Courmettes, a site that many of you are familiar with, perched above Tourrettes-sur-Loup. This study contributes to a better understanding of the terrain for improved preservation.
Understanding landscape change for conservation
My work focused on the evolution of the estate’s landscapes, with a particular focus on forests. By studying old aerial photographs (from 1950 to 2023), I was able to reconstruct the major stages of the site’s transformation. In the past, the estate was largely shaped by human activity: pastures, terraced crops, open areas maintained by herds. But since the 1950s, with the gradual abandonment of these traditional practices, nature has reclaimed the land. The once open spaces have gradually closed in, meaning they have been recolonized by woody vegetation, first by shrubs, then by young forests.
Today, the land use mapping I have carried out shows that nearly two-thirds of the estate is covered by forests, mainly green oak forests. While this reforestation may seem positive at first glance, it poses a real ecological challenge: the gradual disappearance of open habitats threatens the species that depend on them. The ocellated lizard, the largest lizard in Europe, and the hermit butterfly, two species that are being monitored, are finding fewer and fewer habitats suited to their needs.
A field study at Les Courmettes
To better understand the current state of the forests, I conducted fieldwork on 36 one-hectare plots spread across different types of stands (holm oak, hardwood, coniferous, mixed). The aim was to assess the ecological quality of these forests using the IBP, a tool that measures the biodiversity potential of a stand based on simple criteria such as species diversity, the presence of large trees, dead wood, and trees with cavities.
The results show that most of the Courmettes forests are still young and homogeneous, with few elements conducive to forest biodiversity. Hardwood forests stand out positively due to their more varied structure, while holm oak forests, which are very common on the site, are more uniform and therefore less welcoming to specialized wildlife.
Actions to be taken
Based on these findings, two main areas of action have been identified for the coming years:
1. Preserving and restoring open habitats
It is essential to preserve open and semi-open environments by halting their natural transformation into forest. To this end, several actions are proposed: coordinating pastoralism with shepherds for conservation purposes and using grazing to maintain priority areas without overgrazing, regularly monitoring ecological developments and changes in land use and biodiversity over time.
2. Promoting biodiversity within forests
The other major challenge is to support the natural aging of certain stands to allow the emergence of larger trees, dead wood, and microhabitats, which are essential to forest wildlife. This involves leaving certain areas to evolve freely, while protecting remarkable trees and rare pockets of old wood that are already present.
This work has also highlighted the vulnerability of the open areas still present on the site. Future management will therefore have to seek a balance between mature forests and open spaces, two components that are essential to the biodiversity of Les Courmettes.
This project is only the first step toward regular monitoring of the forest ecosystems on the estate. By repeating the surveys every 5 to 10 years, we will be able to measure concretely how the forest is evolving, how management actions are bearing fruit, and how best to preserve the balance between open and closed environments.
We need your support
To continue this work and ensure the long-term protection of the open habitats and forests of Les Courmettes, it will be essential to incorporate these observations and recommendations into the domain’s next Simple Management Plan (PSG). This document, which sets out the broad guidelines for forest and ecological management over several years, serves as the official framework for planning conservation actions, field monitoring, and interventions in the forests. With the current SMP due to expire in 2027, now is the ideal time to further this work so that it can guide the drafting of the next plan and not remain a mere academic document, but have a concrete impact on the estate’s biodiversity.
With your support, this plan can be brought to fruition and provided with the necessary resources to effectively protect biodiversity, ensuring that Les Courmettes remains a vibrant site rich in biodiversity.