Background
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 2012-2014 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.