La Bruyère, the sensitive area!

La colline de La Bruyère est un des quatre principaux massifs du site classé des Ocres du Pays d’Apt, défini par décret en 2002 au titre des Monuments naturels à caractère historique et qui couvre plus de 2500 ha. En 2010, en concertation avec les acteurs locaux, une Opération Grand Site de France a été lancée par la Communauté de Communes Pays d'Apt Luberon, afin de mettre en œuvre un projet de valorisation, de bonne gestion et de préservation des patrimoines naturels, paysagers mais aussi culturels dans la perspective d'obtenir prochainement de l'Etat le label Grand Site de France.

The hill of La Bruyère received the departmental label sensitive natural area (SNA) in 2005. In this context, several plots were purchased by the Luberon Regional Park and the Conservatory of natural areas in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in a natural heritage preservation objective. These courses are open to the public only on marked trails and within siliceous preservation of this unique island.

This route, This route, away from the Calavon, flowing between the massifs of the Monts-de-Vaucluse to the north and Luberon to the south, enters the wooded hill of La Bruyère rising above this agricultural valley dominated by vineyards. It includes ochreous soils and cliffs quite colourful, hidden in part by a woodland takeover. This vegetation is used to sandy soils which are a minority in this limestone Provence.

Like a siliceous island in the middle of a limestone ocean, the hill of La Bruyère (listed and labelled as an environmentally sensitive area) contains a flock of siliceous (silica-loving), acid-loving (likes acid soils) and psammophile (preferring sand) plants. You can come across many species of amphibians (like the Western Spadefoot), birds (such as the European Bee-eater) and bats (like the Greater or the Lesser Horseshoe Bat, the Common Bent-wing Bat).

This wetland is rooted in the ochre activity of the site and served to store the water used for washing the ochre. This is one of the best preserved ponds of the Luberon Regional Nature Park which is a part of the known breeding sites of Western Spadefoot (or Spanish Spadefoot Toad). This rare and vulnerable species in France is considered near threatened globally. With "spades" in its hind feet, it hides in the sand until it rains!

Associated with a Mediterranean climate, the distinctive geology of the hill of La Bruyère, consisting of ochre and sandstone of the Cretaceous, enables a very specific and diverse flora to thrive. The vegetation here is composed of a Holm oak associated with a Scots pine and typical species of Heath,: Common heather, Laurel-leaved rock rose, Broom heather. These species are very different from those in neighbouring massifs.

The maintenance and development of woodlands and deciduous hedges is very important for bats. These areas serve as their hunting grounds and above all, as reference points. Some species are able to make a 5km detour to reach two places a kilometre apart only because they prefer to follow a straight line of hedges rather than to cross an open space.

Les sables ocreux résultent de la profonde modification chimique de sables verts déposés dans la mer il y a environ 100 millions d'années. C'est leur émersion, à cette époque, et leur exposition à un climat chaud et humide qui a conduit à leur altération pour donner, entre autres, des sables ocreux. C’est à partir de ces sables extraits dans des carrières qu’est produite l’ocre, par un processus de séparation du sable et de l'ocre, de décantation dans des bassins, de séchage, de cuisson aux alentours de 800°C et enfin de broyage.