Lac du Lauzerot

Pastoralism is an extensive management technique. The aim is to take the herds to "natural" areas where they can find food. This method helps to maintain open environments, which encourages specific biodiversity. Good management of a mountain pasture must allow the resource to be "exploited" without compromising its regeneration. It has numerous benefits for the environment, animal welfare and farmers alike.

Not for nothing is this perennial plant, with its robust, hollow stem that can grow to more than a metre, commonly known as the great gentian. It has several tiers of yellow flowers at the tip, grouped together and supported by a pair of broad, opposite leaves. Its robust, fleshy root, buried deep in the ground, is a godsend for lovers of home-made spirits and aperitifs. Many mountain folk believe that "the higher the Gentians are in summer, the more snow there will be in winter..."

Also called wild sage, this is the biggest plant in the mint family. They have a highly specialised pollination mechanism. When an insect inserts its proboscis into the flower to reach the nectar store, it triggers the other end of the structure to tip forward and touch the insect's back, transferring pollen and thus ensuring the plant's reproduction. It also possesses numerous medicinal properties, in particular against bronchitis, angina and flu, among other ailments.

The Latin name Plantago is thought to mean "plant that acts", alluding to the medicinal properties attributed to it by the Romans. They claimed that crushing the leaves and applying them to lesions or bites would heal them. Although not particularly tasty, this plant is edible cooked or even raw. It can be found in lawns and meadows. It is characterised by a flowering spike emerging from a clump of thick leaves, with large veins running from the base.

The male has a red "cap" at the top of his head, which is reduced to a red nape in the female. A tireless drummer, this bird hollows out holes in the trees in which to raise his young, but also to dislodge grubs and insects hidden in the wood. The beak grows continually to compensate for the wear it is subjected to. The bone structure of the head is reinforced. The skull and beak are separated by shock absorbing cartilage.

This spinach, also known as Good-King-Henry in reference to King Henry IV to whom we owe its use as a culinary vegetable. The upper side of the leaf is covered in a light floury powder, like micro-beads to the touch. They are edible when young and can be eaten in salads or cooked, like the spinach we are more used to eating.

This small mammal has a furry belly and a white throat. Its ears are pointed with long hairs at the tips. It can be reddish, but there are also grey or even black examples. It is an excellent climber, capable of leaping from tree to tree. It builds its nest high up in the trees, at the fork of a branch and sometimes in a cavity. Its food mainly consists of seeds. Uniquely, it stores them burying them one or two centimetres deep.

The chapel was built in 1873 by the parish priest, Father Doutre, in veneration of Our Lady of Laus. It was the first chapel of ease, a remote chapel built for isolated parishioners. It is hexagonal in shape, as is the original. For a number of years, a pilgrimage festival was held here. At the beginning of the century, the building was in a delapidated state and was even vandalised in 1972, when the first lake disappeared to make way for a replacement. It was not until 1993 that a benevolent local craftsman renovated it completely.

The lake lies at 1,625 metres above sea level. It was created in 1979 by the Office National des Forêts, the French national forestry agency. This lake replaced a former lake which used to exist further uphill and which was lost 7 years ago with the installation of the water source catchment which supplies drinking water for the municipality of Les Crots. The lake lies in pleasant surroundings, where anglers and hikers pass one another with a friendly greeting.

This bellflower is highly characteristic, in particular because of its bell-shaped flowers. The bellflower has hermaphrodite flowers, that is to say, both male and female. This rustic plant loves the sun and dry ground. Some species of seedling can withstand arid soils at high altitude.