Plan Loire Grandeur Nature

Groups along the Loire River are beginning to discuss the content of the next Plan Loire Grandeur Nature to begin in 2014.  La Nouvelle République, the primary newspaper for Tours and the central Loire Valley, reports briefly that the Région du Centre recently held a public forum on aspects of the Plan.  Over the next few months, there will be other, similar forums most likely organized by other governmental units up and down the river valley.  Participants normally include the major interested parties -- the national government; regional, departmental, and municipal governments; water users, including homeowners, businesses, and agriculture; and environmental associations.

I'm still trying to make sense of policy-making for the Loire River basin.  But so far it's my impression that, in a country known for centralized administration, this area may be particularly decentralized.  Many of the governmental units along the river have competing interests.  Nominally -- and maybe actually -- these are "coordinated" by the préfet coordonnateur du bassin Loire Bretagne who is also the préfet for the Région du Centre.  His offices are in Orléans. 

The first Plan was prepared in 1994 and was part of a settlement after a five-year-long conflict over proposals to construct four dams on the Loire and several tributaries.  Generally the Plan sought to balance development along the river with what was then a new commitment to protect the river's special ecosystem.  Specifically, the Plan introduced a commitment to protect against flooding by moving structures out of at-risk flood zones and limiting new development in these same zones.  It also began an on-going project to revive the Atlantic salmon population.

Initially, the government intended only one 10-year plan.  However, after six years it stepped back for an evaluation and decided to make it a permanent part of river basin management.  The third Plan initiated in 2007, runs through the end of this year.  Thus the new round of discussions. 

I expect to be biking along the Loire later this year in August so I'll be writing more about this.