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Treasures to be protected

The world changes with time - this is what makes history. Each period leaves its legacies: monuments, landscapes, architecture and activities, which form our heritage. The world is enriched by evolving - evolution is therefore a positive force. A world which evolves is a living world.

However, over the course of history, man has sometimes destroyed part of his heritage. Wars, technological changes and fires have caused a large number of buildings and monuments to disappear.

But man has also destroyed some of the natural riches of his environment. Changing a forest, ploughing meadowland, hunting without reasoned consideration, and pollution, can perturb a milieu or an animal species to the point of causing it to disappear.

With each species or monument which disappears, our heritage becomes poorer. It is a trace of our history, a piece of our environment which is lost. Sustainable development, means ensuring, as far as possible, the protection and conservation of all the elements of our heritage, whether natural or man-made.

Lost species and heritage | Threatened species and heritage

Lost species and heritage

Not so long ago, animals which are now extinct lived in the forests of the biosphere reserve.

The capercaillie and the hazel grouse, two great birds which were symbols of the natural forest, have disappeared from the reserve relatively recently, since 1950.

Bears and wolves were hunted until their disappearance in the 18th and 20th centuries. At that time, these great predators created ancestral fears in people's minds, and attacked herds and flocks. Who has never heard the story of the "big bad wolf"? The lynx, hunted in particular for its fur, disappeared in the 17th century.

For too long, man destroyed whatever creatures he considered
unnecessary or even pests, or that frightened him. Today we need to find original solutions to allow wild fauna to live and societies to develop.

For the constructed heritage (buildings and monuments) the situation is somewhat similar. To adapt towns to our requirements, which is necessary, we have often destroyed part of our heritage from the past. We have not always asked ourselves whether, one day, these elements could become treasures. The destruction or abandonment of houses, and the opening of roads, for example, have changed the face of towns and villages.

Man can take action by reintroducing individual animals to reinforce populations threatened with extinction. This is the case of the Little Owl in the cross-border biosphere reserve. Man can also reintroduce species when they have completely disappeared. This is the case with the lynx, which was reintroduced into the German section of the reserve in the seventies.

Man can also take action by recreating habitats and milieux which are favourable to endangered species.
   

Sometimes animals return naturally to live in a milieu from which they had previously completely disappeared. This is natural recolonisation. For example, the lynx, which had completely disappeared from the Vosges du Nord, returned by crossing the border with Germany.

For the constructed heritage, the situation is somewhat similar. To avoid losing all that is left, there are several solutions. We protect buildings by listing them. In this way they become historic monuments which we do not have the right to destroy. We can also restore ruins. This is the case, for example, of some castles which are being repaired to preserve them.