Le ried : unique forests in France !

The ried is a natural region bordered to the west by the Ill and to the east by the Rhine. This area was shaped by the Rhine's wanderings in its spreading zone before it was canalized and by the variations in the level of the water tables. Ried comes from the Alemannic Reith

which means rush, reed. In Rhinau, we can observe the last example of temperate gallery forest in Western Europe. In Erstein, the polder to regulate the floods of the Rhine is classified as a nature reserve and makes it possible to realize the biological diversity of the rieds when the Rhine was not under control. The Petit Ried is located north of Strasbourg and the Grand Ried south of Strasbourg. The Weichholzauenwald, the "softwood alluvial forest", and the Hartholzauenwald, the "hardwood alluvial forest", of which there is almost nothing left compared to the areas they occupied a few centuries ago when it still deserved the nickname "Rhine jungle". The Illwald, forest of Sélestat, is in the centre of the ried, which used to cover 250 km². Today it is France's largest regional nature reserve with its 2,000 hectares of hay meadows, reed beds, forests and rivers. The flora and fauna specific to this wetland are extremely fragile. Among this fauna, birds play an important role because the riverside is located on an important migratory corridor and is home to the curlew, which it has taken as its emblem at a time when the drastic reduction in its numbers was raging. Thanks to major efforts, some species are back: reed harrier, short-eared owl, star bittern, beaver, Siberian iris..

The Sundgau: land of carp!

To the south of Mulhouse, as far as the Swiss border, lies the Sundgau, made of gentle hills leaning against the Alsatian Jura. Sundgau means "county of the South" in Germanic in reference to its position as the southern border of Alsace. This particular area is home to rare plant species such as the spring gentian and the acaule carline. The Sundgau is also home to a wide range of animal species, and lovers of wildlife photography will be pleased to find many rare birds of migratory species that stop here on their way to or from the region.

The Sundgau has several distinct environments: beech woods, cultivated areas and villages where the rivers Ill and Largue meander. A must in the Sundgau are the ponds. There are many ponds and fishing is a local sport. It is not for nothing that fried carp is only eaten here!

Rivers and streams, river walks

The Alsatian rivers form three major networks: the Ill, which is the most important, the Moder-Zorn ensemble, and the Sauer network. All three connect to the Rhine downstream from Strasbourg. The Rhine forms a natural border between Alsace and Baden-Wurtenberg (Baden-Württemberg in German).

The Rhine is a 1,233 km long river in Central and Western Europe. Its catchment area of 198,000 km2 includes Liechtenstein, most of Switzerland and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, parts of Austria, Italy and Belgium, large parts of Germany and the Netherlands and part of France. It is the longest river flowing into the North Sea and one of the busiest waterways in the world.

The Ill is a river that flows through the plain of Alsace. An important left tributary of the Rhine and the main river of Alsace with its 216.7 km, it originates in the northern foothills of the Jura and flows through the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, crossing the city centre of Strasbourg. The Ill branches off to the north and flows into the Rhine at Offendorf, downstream of Strasbourg, after the Gambsheim hydroelectric dam. Before the Rhine rectification works, the Ill flowed into the Rhine at the Wantzenau.

The Moder, also called Motter or Mottern, takes its name from Matrae

(Gallic river goddess). The Moder has its source in the Northern Vosges in Zittersheim at the place called "Moderfeld". It joins the Rhine on the left bank, south of Beinheim, after 82.1 km. The Zorn is a right tributary of the Moder and a 96.8 km long sub-tributary of the Rhine. Finally, the Sauer, called Saarbach in Germany in its upper reaches, is 70 km long. Another important waterway is the Marne-Rhine canal, 314 km long and originally 178 locks, linking the Marne (at Vitry-le-François) to the Rhine (at Strasbourg). Via the Marne Lateral Canal, it is connected to the navigable network of the Seine towards the Ile-de-France and Normandy. Started in 1838, the canal was put into service in 1853. The canal crosses the Vosges through the gap in the Col de Saverne. Along its entire length, many other waterways are connected. The most remarkable structure is the Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane which was put into service in 1969. It doubles and replaces 17 locks that were close together. The canal also includes three tunnels and several canal bridges, including the La Madeleine canal bridge. In 2007, the communes of the Phalsbourg area created the "Valley of the Locksmiths", a cycling and hiking project designed to recall the economic and logistical importance of the Saverne Gap, and in particular the technical feats achieved in the 19th century.

The plains, a paradise for agriculture

Between the sub-Vosgean Piedmont and the Rhine, the plain of Alsace, intensely urbanized, still preserves some natural environments: beautiful forest massifs in the north (Haguenau forest) and south (Hardt and Nonnenbruch), the Ried, and the Alsatian Jura. The plains of Alsace are of different natures, often rich, and have thus enabled farmers to diversify their production: wheat, corn, cabbage, sugar beet, hops, asparagus and tobacco are grown on land carried either by ancient alluvial deposits or by veneers of silt or loess, fine and yellowish sediments deposited by the winds. This is the case west of Strasbourg, in the Kochersberg plain, nicknamed the "granary of Alsace" because of its exceptional fertility. The large cultivated areas are punctuated by round hills. From Osthoffen-Dahlenheim, they give way to the vines that stretch out on the slopes of the Mossig, on the slopes of Mount Scharrach.

Mountains and summits, hikers' dream

The contact between the mountain and the plain is made by a gently sloping foothill, called "sub-Vosgian hills", which were put in place when the Alsace plain collapsed. It is a mosaic of steps more or less raised and well individualized by the course of the many rivers descending from the Vosges to join the Ill or the Rhine. The Zorn, the Bruche, the Fecht or the Thur are examples among many others. The slopes of these hills, well exposed to the morning sun and often made up of dry limestone soils, were the ideal location for the vines. The Piedmont is one of the hottest and driest parts of the Alsatian region. Thanks to these climatic characteristics, the site is home to a specific fauna and flora, close to Mediterranean environments. For example, we can mention the varied plant groups (oak grove, oak grove, chestnut grove, pine groves, lawns), the rich mycoflora, and the presence of the Scots pine, the tree of poor soils. Only he could recolonise these heathlands on the sunniest slopes, almost on bare rock.

The Vosges mountain range is covered in the upper regions with coniferous forests (pine, fir, spruce, larch) and forests of beech, oak, hornbeam and chestnut in its lower parts. Above 1,200 m, the peaks produce only grass forming vast and beautiful pastures. Cereals are still cultivated at an altitude of 900 m. In the Vosges, two distinct mountain ranges can be distinguished: the southern one, by far the highest, made up of crystalline rocks; the northern one made up of sandstone.

The crystalline mountains of the South are composed of mountains with granite rocks or metamorphic rocks. The former extend from the Ballon d'Alsace (1,250 m) to the valley of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines forming the Gresson (1,249 m), the Tête du Drumont (1,223 m), the Grand-Ventron (1,204 m), the Rainkopf (1,304 m), the Hohneck (1,362 m), the highest peak of the granite mountains), the Gazon du Faing and Rocher Belmont (1,303 m and 1,272 m), which overlook Lac Noir (960 m) and Lac Blanc (1,054 m), the Col du Bonhomme (949 m) and finally the Brézouard (1,228 m). Further north, a final granite mountain, the Champ du Feu massif (1,095 m), forms a separate system.

The Northern Vosges, made of sandstone, form a vast strip starting from Phalsbourg, passing through Épinal and extending as far as Luxeuil, Lure and Belfort. Its main mountains are Donon (1,009 m), Hengst (890 m), Hohneck (1,362 m), Hohkoenigsbourg (807), Climont (974 m), the Bloss plateau with Moennelstein (819 m) and Sainte-Odile (764 m).

Forests and woods, the place to recharge your batteries

Alsace is France's 5th largest forest region. The forests cover the alluvial cones of the rivers flowing down from the Vosges. They are made up of a mixture of various species. In addition to the forests specific to the Rieds, which we have already mentioned, there are the ecologically very rich Rhine forests with more than 40 species of trees and shrubs and which benefit from a specific protection plan; the hill forests which are very much visited, for example around the vineyards and castles, the plain forests, two of which are among the 10 largest public forests in France, and the mountain forests, more than 80% of which are wooded, which constitute an important economic and ecological natural heritage.

The largest of the Alsatian forests is that of Haguenau. In the southern part we find the Hardt forest, the Nonnenbruch forest and the forest partly covering the Sundgau. Two regional nature parks cover these areas.

The Ballons des Vosges du Nord Regional Nature Park was created in June 1989 on the initiative of three former regions: Alsace, Lorraine and Franche-Comté. It straddles four departments and its 3,000 km2 make it one of the largest in France and one of the most densely populated. The Vosges du Nord Regional Nature Park was created in December 1975. Contrary to what its name might suggest, this park is not located in the Vosges department, nor is it centred on the Vosges mountains. The park is part of the Vosges du Nord-Pfälzerwald Transboundary Biosphere Reserve.