Work and grazing to the rescue of wild bees!

Logging and brush clearing work is underway on the Argentine plateau, as part of the Life Wild Bees program in support of wild bees.

Restoration of natural habitats

On the Argentine plateau, limestone habitats are becoming overgrown and enclosed due to agricultural abandonment. The project aims to improve the conservation status of limestone grasslands, restore plant diversity , and create ecological corridors. This will sustainably strengthen the food resources and microhabitats upon which wild bees depend.

Réalisé par l’entreprise « Semence Nature », le chantier permet de keep the areas open having benefited from work in February 2024 but also from log on between them areas that are still open, by creating gaps in the shrubby vegetation. This notably involves reconnecting the area located to the east of the plateau, under the line maintained by ENEDIS last April.

Let's talk numbers!

These operations cover an area of ​​approximately 7000 m² of maintenance through grass cutting. An additional 8000 m² was cleared to restore an opening equivalent to 70% of its original area, and approximately 300 m² was cleared of trees to reconnect the different zones.

This work is part of a project management delegation agreement between the Commune of La Rochebeaucourt-et-Argentine, owner of the plot and the Joint Syndicate of the Périgord-Limousin Regional Natural Park.

Grazing to the rescue of dry grasslands

All the areas concerned are also maintained through grazing. The Park has enlisted two landless shepherds to graze their sheep and goats across the calcareous grasslands of the Argentine plateau. By grazing the dry grasslands, the flock also helps to limit the landscape's closure due to scrub encroachment and forest advance.

The work carried out this winter will facilitate this itinerant grazing in the future, allowing sheep and goats to easily access all grassy areas.

Photo: Construction site before/after