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A study has been made of the interaction between Man and the natural environment in the Saône-Rhône valley (Rhône-Alpes) , a wet borderline milieu in space and time. A map (l/25,000th and 1 /50,000th) of the vegetation has been composed over a total area of 482 sq.kms. The valley has been divided into three eco-geographic districts and into 23 sections, with various quantitative data about each of the two banks : percentages of land use, population, energy consumption (domestic, industrial, transportation), energy conversion. An interpretation of these various data has been undertaken, with schemes making it possible to grasp the factors of human action in this environment, as well as relations with certain natural or semi-natural components (percentage of artificialization, natural resources, thermic balance). More than a discovery of the Saône-Rhône valley, this study should be viewed as a contribution towards a methodological approach to an inventory and modelization, permetting a better understanding of technosphere/ biosphere interactions. This is a condition sine qua non for any planning program, in contradiction with past and present practices.

Geographical individuality of Dombes area is resulting from ponds, covering 26 400 acres. In the past, ponds system has seemed the very best to expand a poor country, yet since early part of nineteenth century there were many ups and downs. However, game shooting as an organised country sport originated and the great landowners in Lyon protected ponds. Unfortunately, today, the balance between farming and game shooting tends to deteriorate. Such a phenomenon is worrying for the future and may destroy a well balanced environment.

The foothills of the French Northern Alps have seen a very fast growth in pig-breeding since the sixties, due to the use of by-products from the cheese industry. Water pollution from agriculture or from the food industry has risen to an alarming level and required the intervention of the water Authority. Manuring and the extraction of proteins from lactosérum seem preferable to the building of water filtering stations, since these two techniques alloiv a recycling of fertilizers.