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Every summer, the mountain attracts many vacationers. This is particularly the case in Haute-Savoie, in the Aiguilles Rouges national nature reserve, where attendance has doubled in ten years. Its impact on the environment worries the Heritage Conservation teams.
This is one of the jewels of the Aiguilles Rouges massifs (Haute-Savoie): Lac des Chéserys, at an altitude of 2,300 meters, facing Mont-Blanc. In this place where hikers are more and more numerous, Laurent Delomez, guard of the reserve, and his team, are hard at work. That day, they install wooden poles to channel walkers on the trails. “It is not really a psychic barrier, (…) but it is [pour] create awareness, that the way is there“, he explains.
Attendance has doubled in ten years
The regulation of tourists has become necessary, because attendance has doubled in ten years in the nature reserve. Hikers thus venture off the trails. “Over time, it creates new paths, and (…) there is no more vegetation. And afterwards with the storms, there is a lot of erosion”, explains Capucine Pernelet, eco-guard of the reserve. At 2,300 meters above sea level, the environment is particularly fragile. It is thus a question of preserving the vegetation and the fauna.