Reflections on the Loire

With the exception of several dams, the Loire is a beautiful river all the way from the headwaters to the Atlantic.  The central portion especially, with the chateaux, has been drawing tourists since the time of Henry James -- and probably before.  But the Loire is also a hydrological system and a series of natural habitats.  It's often referred to as perhaps the last wild river in Europe.  But it isn't.  The dams I just mentioned; but there are human influence on the river.  It provides, for example, cooling waters to more nuclear power plants than any other river in Europe.  And along some stretches it's channeled by levees dating back centuries.

A recent edition of La Nouvelle République, the principal newspaper of Tours, included short interviews with Bernard Valette and Roberto Epple, both important figures in efforts to protect the Loire, both speaking of the river's fragility in the face of human actions.  Valette founded l'Observatoire Loire in 1992.  L'Observatoire, based in Blois, is an environmental education association that, among other projects, provides educational materials to schools and offers boating excursions to learn about the river first hand.  Epple was a founder in 1989 of SOS Loire Vivante, one of a coalition of organizations that in the early 1990s successfully opposed construction of several dams on the Loire and its tributaries.

L'Observatoire Loire recently celebrated 20 years and the paper asked Valette to reflect on the condition of the river over this time.  He refered to a couple of on-going issues, like the spread of the silure and too many new developments in floodplain areas.  (The silure, an immense, ugly form of catfish native to Europe and Asia, can reach lengths of 8 feet or more and weights of nearly 250 pounds.  Silures are omnivores and appear to be threatening other species of fish.)  But mostly he stressed the still fragile character of the river and the need for people to understand it better.

Roberto Epple.  © Photo NR, Jérôme Dutac

Epple also notes the river's fragility, but is more specific in naming the threats.
Climate change, he says, has raised the river's average temperature by about 2.5 degrees centigrade (~4.5 degrees fahrenheit) with evident consequences for the river habitat.  Further, he says, dams prevent the river from carrying its normal charge of sediments and sand.  Over time he fears the river channel will deepen, the speed of the water will increase, and again, habitats will be undermined.
And he worries about over-commercialization along the river that could end up eliminating much of what currently attracts tourists.

To keep in mind the next time you're tempted to think of the timelessness of the Loire Valley.