Fort-du-Plasne Lake

In Fort-du-Plasne, public structures are lined along the main road (school, post office, town hall, fountain, monument to the dead and cheese dairy). Once upon a time, in addition to its administrative functions, the town hall also offered services such as public baths; this was the case of the town hall in Fort-du-Plasne

The need to protect peat bogs is a recent revelation. These fragile environments play an important role in maintaining water quality and in naturally combatting the effects of drought and climate change. Plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air by photosynthesis to form their tissue: leaves, trunk, stems, etc. When they die, they are decomposed by microorganisms in the ground and return the carbon into the air. But in a peat bog, the presence of water prevents decomposing organisms from working, which traps the carbon in the peat. Peat bogs only represent 3% of the surface of emerged land, but they store 30% of the Earth soils’ carbon!

Cotton grass, resembling a cotton bud with a white feathered end, is easily recognisable in peat bogs. Its meter-long roots enable it to store nutritional reserves, as the ground is very low in minerals. It’s a plant that is suited to a northern climate (cold). It was widespread across Europe a few thousand years ago. However, the climate subsequently grew warmer and it only survived in Scandinavian countries and in peat bogs, where no other plant is able to replace it.

The species living in peat bogs have adapted to the omnipresence of water, to few nutritional resources, to the chemical composition of the soil - which, in calcareous regions, can be acid or basic - and to a rather cold climate.