Contenu du sommaire

ABSTRACT Protecting nature has become a necessity for our urban and industrial civilisation : country parks are the most 'conspicuous form of such a policy. The problems raised by country parks derive from the difficulty of coordinating the various objectives assigned : conservation of nature and tourism, tourism and regional development, regional development and conservation of nature become opposing objectives beyond a certain point. So as to overcome these contradictions a reconciliation betwen men and their environment, of which country parks are a symbol, has become essential all over the whole country.

ABSTRACT Despite their situation and their relief, the Monts d'Or, traditionally a rural area, have become a. part of the Lyon urban area. The land use plans de not ensure 'the preservation of the natural environment in those zones which, according to these plans, cannot be built upon. It would be desirable to grant the status of a regional country park to the Monts d'Or in order to stop the forces of degradation, restore the ecological equilibrium and to place them at the disposal of the inhabitants of the Lyon area for recreational purposes.

ABSTRACT The parc national de la Vanohe, the first creation in France, gives a delicate balance between the requests of the ecologists, rumlists and politicians. It is affected by a too high fréquentation level (250 000 visitors in Summer) and the vicinity of various equipments who trouble his stabitity.

ABSTRACT The Regional Park has its origin in the department du Finistère only. It was accepted with some difficulties by some local people who feared interference with ownership rights etc. The Park aims at being physically and humanly a show-window of « Armorique », but it is the traditional aspects of « Armorique » which it stresses .especially in the Park-House in the estate of Menez-Meur. The Park authorities have started a policy of conservation of animals species and races in danger of extinction. They have built some open-air museums scattered in the different areas of the Park and which are among the first established in France. In the « communes » of the Park, touristic life is sometimes quite old and lodging infrastructures were in 1969, when the Park was created, most unevenly distributed. Since, new equipments have been set up which have contributed to reduce the contrasts between the littoral and the interior of the country.

ABSTRACT The national Park on the « Iles d'Hyères » stands out because of the concentration of its territory, because of the conservation of insular and maritime space. Unlike mountains, the accessibility of the islands leeds to abuse, which in turn means their destruction.

ABSTRACT The aménagement of regional natural parks causes not only the preservation of the environment but ,a/so the renforcement of the power of the towns over the rural space, considering the important development of the economy of leisure and of the mass-media which condition it. The example of the Northern Vosges which are near a lot of towns makes some dualism appear in the ruflal behaviours which are influenced, on one side by attractive power of the cities and an the other side the cape of the local originality and the efficiency which can only be preserved by a policy of contractual equalization of burdens.

ABSTRACT In the Cevennes national park, the protection of the ecological equilibrium of a countryside inherited from a historic culture is achieved by supporting pastoral and agricultural life. Thus, in this spirit, the plan for the hamlets foresees the restoration of the traditional environment : on the initiative of the park authorities, a targe subsidy is given to farmers who accept the terms of a contract. Twenty-three rural lodgins have alerady been built in the park area, observing very strict architectural standards ; the plan has now been extended to the peripheral zone. The effect of the financial incentives and their psychological extension has made the hamlet plan an original experiment in the planning of tourist regions.

ABSTRACT The countryside is in the cours? of being restructured with emphasis to maximum profitability. This evolution is characterised by a reduction in agricultural land, and the release of land from production which becomes protected land or contributes ot outdoor recreating. Country parks, both national and regional, are elements of this new planning of the countryside. The former are particularly aimed at protecting nature ; the latter at dealing with the urban population which comes to relax in them. They are part of the mechanism and evolution of the whole of society. In France, legislation on country parks is recent ; it is characterised by great rigidity in the case of the national parks, essentially they form a framework for the co-ordination of development plans for protected land. In these parks, the conflicts between the different users of the countryside — the traditional and the modern — are almost everywhere aggravated. Laboratories of the new country planning — yet without great financial endowment — the parks are also remarkable observatories of social evolution.