Immersion students: understanding the territory through landscape

Second-year students from the IUT of Bordeaux – Périgord Campus in Périgueux – enrolled in the "Social and Sociocultural Activities" program, spent a day in the town of Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière on March 18th, exploring the complexities surrounding the concept of landscape. Accompanied by two project managers from the Regional Natural Park, they worked on different landscape scales, from the grand landscape to the intimate landscape.

Grand landscape: feet between two worlds

The morning took place at a place called "Chaumeille," located on the contact zone between the crystalline rocks of the Massif Central and the carbonate rocks of the Aquitaine Basin. In this hamlet, visitors can practically set foot on every type of rock! The differences in their composition and structure make them more or less susceptible to erosion, with crystalline rocks eroding less easily than limestone.

With their backs to the Chaumeille valley, facing due northeast, and using the IGN topographic maps from the Blue series, the students were able to see steep slopes, a stream that is not visible but can be discerned through the narrowing of the thalweg*, a river with few meanders, acidic soils resulting in acidophilic flora and its associated fauna, and distinct interfluve** crests… A landscape that differs from what the eye perceives when looking at the church steeple of Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière. Indeed, on the southwest side, the slopes are gentle, the valley is wide and flat-bottomed, the Dronne River meanders as it leaves the village, and in the distance, castles built on rocky escarpments, in a defensive position, are visible.

This landscape reading exercise was conducted with the students at two points in the hamlet: past the last houses, along the local road that runs along the ridge towards Le Chatenet, under a hedge of fruit trees, with their feet in the crystalline rock; and at the entrance to the village, on the uphill side of the road, on the limestone section. Various educational tools were offered to the students: after spatial awareness exercises using maps at different scales, they worked with aerial photographs. They also spent time listening to and experiencing the different sounds above the valley.

Intimate landscape and relationship to water

The landscape can be interpreted on a finer, more intimate scale. With this in mind, the Park presented the work carried out regarding the removal of ponds. Indeed, the need for ecological continuity necessitates river restoration work, which has been undertaken on the Dronne River, including, for example, the dismantling of structures. To further explore the role of water in our daily lives, the lunch break took place in the village of Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière, along the Dronne, at one of the sites that benefited from the LIFE Ecological Continuity program.

The afternoon was dedicated to exploring intimate landscapes, through small group work with specific and thematic objectives. By walking through the village, the students were able to understand the living environment in terms of sound, sight, and future prospects. The students presented their work under the market hall, and the day concluded with a final discussion on landscapes.

The Park regularly hosts students on its territory to promote the Périgord-Limousin region and raise awareness among a wider audience about the challenges of heritage preservation and transition. The outing on March 18th was part of a series of five workshops on landscapes led by Fabien Gervais-Briand, a part-time lecturer from the University of Bordeaux. At the end of their exploration of landscapes, combining factual data and sensory perceptions, the students will be asked to develop cultural mediation activities.

^{* Thalwegs: line joining the lowest points of a valley.
** An interfluve is a landform located between two valleys}