Pôle bocage et faune sauvage

ONCFS training

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T10:15:45Z

Each year since 2004, the town of Cerizay in the Deux-Sèvres department runs a training course in bocage management for ONCFS employees nationwide.

The "Bocage and wildlife expertise centre correspondents" course

Course aims :

CTrain correspondents in regions concerned by bocage and hedgerow issues. Enhance employees' knowledge of the biological requirements of wildlife and bocage environments. Apply research results to the practical management of the static elements that make up a bocage landscape.

Course contents :
The course is organised jointly by the Poitou-Charentes/Limousin Inter-Regional Delegation and the Human Resources Department. The Local Action Department and the Studies and Research Department also contribute, in their respective fields. The course, which is taught by bocage specialists from ONCFS and partners, makes the connection between the biological and ecological needs of animal species, on one hand, and bocage management practices, on the other. Farmers and other representatives from the rural community present a selection of tools that can be used for managing static bocage components such as hedges, grass strips and riparian vegetation.

The course focuses in particular on :
Hedgerow surveys,
Hedge planting.

The course features two half-day field trips :
Established bocage,
Reconstituted bocage,
Bocage in the process of reconstitution.

This course is supported by a number of partners, including Bocage Pays Branché, CREN Poitou-Charentes, DDEA 79, CNRS Chizé and farmers.

Pilot farms

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T10:11:45Z

Each year, field trips to demonstration sites are organised at farms in Poitou-Charentes and Limousin. These events, which focus on personal accounts by innovative farmers, provide an opportunity to show farmers and hunters examples of development projects that encourage biodiversity in bocage areas.
For example, in 2008 and 2009, various groups from the Lot, Dordogne and Haute-Vienne departments visited a pilot farm in northern Deux-Sèvres.

article describing a visit by farmers and hunters from the Dordogne to one of the farms participating in the Agrifaune network.

Environmental education

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T10:11:43Z

Hedge-planting events are organised, to teach youngsters about the environment and conservation issues and foster a culture of respect for our natural surroundings.

La reconquête du bocage : film documentaire réalisé par FIFO distribution ©

Press review - La Cottancière (Deux-Sèvres)

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T10:11:40Z

La Nouvelle République - 05/12/2007
Des haies plantées par les enfants

Courrier de l'Ouest - 13/12/2007
La haie retrouve ses valeurs auprès de la population

Courrier de l'Ouest - 05/10/2007
A Montravers, on replante des haies à la ferme de la Cottancière

ONCFS Poitou-Charentes/Limousin IRD

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T09:59:54Z

Around one hundred people work for the Poitou-Charentes/Limousin Delegation, at locations across the eight departments of the Poitou-Charentes and Limousin regions.

The main missions of ONCFS in the Poitou-Charentes and Limousin regions :
- Policing hunting and environmental affairs,
- Wildlife monitoring and consultant advice in the area of habitat management,
- Awareness-raising.

More information about the Inter-Regional Delegation available at the ONCFS site

ONCFS locations in Poitou-Charentes and Limousin

Missions

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T09:46:13Z

The role of the bocage and wildlife expertise centre is to encourage sustainable management of bocage environments in support of nationwide bocage conservation efforts. The centre provides information about this often-overlooked wildlife habitat and promotes its heritage value.

The centre's main aims are to :

Collate and summarise scientific and technical knowledge relating to the bocage habitat acquired by ONCFS and its partners;

Identify new and innovative areas for further research and experimentation with a view to defining and updating the research programmes conducted by the ONCFS Studies and Research Dept. and other organisations;

Provide knowledge transfer for ONCFS field operatives working on development initiatives;

Promote bocage-friendly farming practices, in particular via the Agrifaune network;

Promote the inclusion of this knowledge in local and national public policy.

The expertise centre provides ONCFS employees and partners with a hedgerow management toolkit and guidance to assist them in their own development projects.

Since 2007, the Poitou-Charentes/Limousin Inter-Regional Delegation has launched various initiatives to support the work of the expertise centre. These projects, which relate to understanding, encouraging and promoting awareness about bocage conservation, have received funding from the Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes.
Successful partnerships play an important role in the expertise centre's operation. For example, ONCFS has a cooperative agreement with the national forest survey agency (Inventaire Forestier National), and another with the nature reserves agency (Espaces Naturels de France).

Team

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T09:07:49Z

Staff at ONCFS's Poitou-Charentes/Limousin Inter-Regional Delegation (IRD), which set up the bocage expertise centre, carry out its work under the leadership of Thierry Clausse, Inter-Regional Delegate, and Gérard Ruven, who manages the IRD's technical department.

Technical team:

Sophie Morin, an engineer serving the bocage centre and the IRD's technical department

.. .., the bocage expertise centre's GIS project manager/webmaster

Supported by:

Christelle Bellanger, engineer with the IRD's technical department (bocage projects in Limousin and impact assessments); Gilles Capron, a technician with the technical department; Pauline Audigier, legal specialist; Marie-Christine Ruven, secretary with the IRD's technical department.

The work of the bocage expertise centre, based at ONCFS's Poitou-Charentes/Limousin Inter-Regional Delegation, is also supported by the following ONCFS central departments:
Studies and Research Department (scientific oversight), correspondent: Jean-Marie Boutin,
Local Action Department (national coordination) correspondents: François Omnès and Antoine Derieux,
Policing Department (legal affairs),
Human Resources Department - training division,
Inter-Regional Delegations (network of correspondents at the bocage expertise centre).

Background

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T08:59:47Z

The Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS) (national office for hunting and wildlife) is a public institution reporting jointly to the environment ministry and the ministry of agriculture. It has a role as an expert advisor to the government in matters concerning the management of species and natural habitats. Applied research conducted by ONCFS's Studies and Research Department has enlightened the debate on the development of wildlife-friendly bocage management practices in Poitou-Charentes.

In 2002, ONCFS staged a European conference on bocage-related research in Cerizay, near Bressuire in the north of the Deux-Sèvres department.

Bocage management has emerged as an issue of concern in most French regions, in the context of the drafting of a set of regional guidelines on wildlife and habitat management and conservation (ORGFH). ONCFS provided technical support to the government for this project. The ONCFS management board subsequently decided to set up a resources unit to provide its employees and partners with technical reference materials for local authorities wishing to maintain the bocage fabric in their area.

The "bocage and wildlife expertise centre", like the other ONCFS habitat expertise centres, is subject to the 2009-2011 State-ONCFS partnership agreement.

The bocage expertise centre is based in Poitou-Charentes and funded by the Regional Council. Numerous initiatives aimed at protecting bocage environments have been conducted in this region by interest groups, the hunting community and farmers.

Activities in bocage areas of France carried out by ONCFS and partners, via ONCFS's Inter-Regional Delegations.

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T08:50:33Z

Protecting bocage environments

Arnaud Vaudelet — 2012-03-15T08:44:29Z

Hedgerows undeniably play an important environmental role, providing benefits to wild animals and plant life, agronomic and economic benefits, etc.

Bocage and forested landscapes are all too often left scarred by excessive hedge removal, and effective means of protecting hedges are therefore required.

This section of the site provides a comprehensive overview of current legislation that can be used to protect hedges:

State and local authorities section

Landowners/farmers' section

Regulatory instruments section

Conventional instruments section

Direct links to legal fact sheets:
. Prefectural biotope protection order
. Landscape protection and enhancement directive
. Sustainable development plan (PADD) and local development plan (PLU) themes
. Prefectural protection for linear woodland, hedgerows and road/rail/riverside plantations
. Hunting and wildlife reserves
. Conservation areas
. Protected natural sites and monuments
. Local development plan zoning (regulations and graphic documents)
. Architectural, urban and landscape heritage protection areas

Here is a typical example of an order issued in 2006 to regulate the upkeep and shredding of hedges and free-standing woody plants in Territoire-de-Belfort.

2 pages / 536 ko