The impact of man on nature is everywhere, even at the top of the mountains. In France, they are riddled with abandoned buildings and old, disused installations. Although the law is silent on the subject, volunteers have been mobilizing for over 20 years to clean up the mountain ranges.
At an altitude of 1,700 m, at the Col de l’Échelle, in the Southern Alps, on the Italian border, the rock faces overlook a small forest. A peaceful and a priori wild. Yet 80 years ago, war was raging. It is a crossing point between France and Italy. It was a France-Italy front line for World War II. explains Élisa Flandrin, a volunteer at the Mountain Wilderness Association. This association is dedicated to erasing the last scars of the era: kilometers of barbed wire intended to prevent soldiers from advancing in the mountains. And so we collect this barbed wire, we bring it down from the mountain, we make a big pile in a place that is accessible by road. “, she continues.
After two hours of work, nearly a ton of barbed wire has already been collected, a laborious task for the 40 volunteers present that day. Under the trees, they dig, they pull, they saw. Angle grinder in hand, Laurent Flandrin attacks a metal stake sealed in a concrete block. He explains his motivations: “QWhen I go ski touring, I’m glad I don’t get my skis caught in barbed wire. And above all, animals prick their feet and then it gets infected.” Alongside him, Augustin Gamot, another mountain lover, adds: “ For walkers and animals alike, they can get hurt. It’s better if there’s nothing left. We’re doing something useful and giving wild nature its full freedom, we’re removing these cables and these human errors.”
Mentalities need to change to avoid the accumulation of obsolete facilities
The association lists these obsolete installations and clears them from mountain ranges throughout the country, explains Rémi Monari, in charge of the file at Mountain Wilderness: ” We talk about sustainable development and ultimately, the end of the loop is to make room. We are in natural spaces and it is a shame to have all these things lying around.”
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Rémi Monari points out the lack of knowledge on this subject: “ We often don’t realize it, but there are really lots of facilities lying around everywhere in the mountains. So here, we have military barbed wire, but we have abandoned ski lifts, agricultural lifts that are no longer used, agricultural fences. In fact, there are lots of diverse and varied installations, also industrial », he explains. What he hopes is to set an example: ” Only if everyone gets involved can we hope to have fewer obsolete installations one day, knowing that every year there are new ones. It really is a never-ending job. At least, with current mentalities. »
Today, there is little or no need to dismantle these installations and pollution continues to accumulate in the mountains of France.
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