The Pointe de Givet National Nature Reserve (RNN145) is a national nature reserve of the

Grand Est Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten; Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administrat ...

region of France. Established in 1999, it spreads over 354 hectares and protects a group of sites recognised for their rich

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

Localisation

At the northern end of the

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, the nature reserve territory consists of 11 entities localized on the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

of Charnois,

Chooz Chooz () can denote several things: * Chooz, Ardennes is a French commune ** The Chooz Nuclear Power Plant ** Chooz (experiment) was a physics experiment using the reactor as a neutrino source ** Double Chooz Double Chooz was a short-baseline ne ...

Foisches Foisches () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. The Pointe de Givet National Nature Reserve is partly located on the commune. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the ...

, Fromelennes,

Givet Givet () (german: Gibet Walloon: ''Djivet'') is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France surrounded on three sides by the Belgian border. It lies on the river Meuse where Emperor Charles V built the fortress of Charlemont. It ...

, and Rancennes for a total area of 354 hectares.

History of site and reserve

The sector has been known by naturalists since at least the 19th century for its

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

riches and

. To protect this deteriorating heritage, "La Valenne" association solicited the classification as national nature reserve of the most notable natural environments of the site known as ''Pointe de Givet'' in 1990. The classification procedure succeeded in 1999, and governing bodies (

National Forests Office The National Forests Office (french: Office national des forêts), or ONF, is a Government of France agency that manages the state forests, city forests and biological reserves. ONF is based in Paris. The office is responsible for the sustaina ...

and Conservatory of Natural Areas of Champagne-Ardennes (''Conservatoire d'espaces naturels de Champagne-Ardennes'')) have been designed in 2000.

Ecology

The nature reserve offers a landscape composed of forests, moors, dry lawns as well as spectacular rocky escarpments. Its interest is geological, floral and faunal. Five main natural habitat types can be found: * "mineral" substrates (flush rocks, steep cliff, scree, cave entrances) * habitats with short herbaceous vegetation (dry grassland, moors) * areas of shrub vegetation (thickets) * afforestation (woods, forests, edges) * semi-natural anthropogenic habitats (''game culture'', hedges, slopes)

Geology

Givet Pointe's geology presents several unusual aspects. Of educational interest, they justify national nature reserve classification. The

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

valley deeply cuts into limestone and it is here that

Jules Gosselet Jules-Auguste Gosselet (19 April 1832 – 20 March 1916) was a French geologist born in Cambrai, France.Givétien stratotype in 1879. But rocks diversity is broad; in addition to a limestone known as , there are

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

s, an old

fluorite Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs sca ...

quarry and many fossils, notably

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...

s. Some limestone caves complete the inventory with their stalactites and stalagmites.

Flora

The geographical location of Givet Pointe, with the spectacular relief of certain sites, and the existence of hot and dry micro-climates, have allowed the development of a southern flora which is exceptional at this latitude. The nature reserve flora inventory reports 461 species, including 156 remarkable ("rare" or "very rare") among which 11 are protected in

Champagne-Ardenne Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of the ...

. The Regional Red List has 35 registered species such as white mugwort (''

Artemisia alba ''Artemisia alba'', called white mugwort, white wormwood, white artemisia, or camphor southernwood, is a species of ''Artemisia'' native to Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Sicily, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and the Balkans. Its currently ...

''), the wild cotoneaster, cat's-foot, monkey orchid and bloody geranium.

Fauna

The variety of natural environments provides habitats for more than 320 animal species, including insects,

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

s and birds. Twenty

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

species have been identified. The richness in insects and existence of caves explain the presence of 12 species of bats, some of which fall under the

Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...

(92/43/EEC): lesser horseshoe bat,

greater horseshoe bat The greater horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus ferrumequinum'') is an insectivorous bat of the genus '' Rhinolophus''. Its distribution covers Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Asia. It is the largest of the horseshoe bats in Europe an ...

greater mouse-eared bat The greater mouse-eared bat (''Myotis myotis'') is a European species of bat in the family Vespertilionidae. Description ''Myotis myotis'' is a large bat with a long, broad muzzle and big, long ears. The body's dorsal side is brown to reddish-b ...

and Geoffroy's bat. Over 70 species of birds have been identified , a third of which are registered on the Regional Red List, such as the

Eurasian eagle-owl The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') is a species of eagle-owl that resides in much of Palearctic, Eurasia. It is also called the Uhu and it is occasionally abbreviated to just the eagle-owl in Europe. It is one of the largest species of owl, ...

European nightjar The European nightjar (''Caprimulgus europaeus''), common goatsucker, Eurasian nightjar or just nightjar, is a crepuscular and nocturnal bird in the nightjar family that breeds across most of Europe and the Palearctic to Mongolia and Northwest ...

and

woodlark The woodlark or wood lark (''Lullula arborea'') is the only extant species in the lark genus ''Lullula''. It is found across most of Europe, the Middle East, western Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident (non- migratory) ...

Reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s like the

common European adder ''Vipera berus'', the common European adderMallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G. (2003). ''True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers''. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. . or common European viper,Stidworthy J. (1974). ...

and the

smooth snake The smooth snake (''Coronella austriaca'')Street D (1979). ''The Reptiles of Northern and Central Europe''. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. 268 pp. . is a species of non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is found in northern and cen ...

are fond of rocky areas. As of 2020, 171 insect species have thus far been identified, including 78

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

Papilionoidea The superfamily Papilionoidea (from the genus '' Papilio'', meaning "butterfly") contains all the butterflies except for the moth-like Hedyloidea. The members of the Papilionoidea may be distinguished by the following combination of character ...

such as '' Erebia medusa'', the

silver-studded blue The silver-studded blue (''Plebejus argus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It has bright blue wings rimmed in black with white edges and silver spots on its hindwings, lending it the name of the silver-studded blue. ''P. argus'' can be ...

large copper The large copper (''Lycaena dispar'') is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. ''L. dispar'' has been commonly arranged into three subspecies: ''L. dispar dispar'', (single-brooded) which was commonly found in England, but is now extinct, ''L. d ...

and the

marsh fritillary The marsh fritillary (''Euphydryas aurinia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name derives from one of its several habitats, marshland. The prolonged larval s ...

. There are also around 30 species of

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grassho ...

such as the blue-winged grasshopper, the grey bush cricket, the '' Tetrix bipunctata'' and the

wart-biter The wart-biter (''Decticus verrucivorus'') is a bush-cricket in the family Tettigoniidae. Its common and scientific names derive from the eighteenth-century Swedish practice of allowing the crickets to nibble at warts to remove them. Descriptio ...

State, pressures or threats, responses

The nature reserve splitting into 11 entities leads to significant ecological fragmentation. Numerous after-effects of war dot the territory. In the absence of large wild

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

mammals, there is a tendency for open areas to become overgrown.

Tourism and educational interest

It is linked to natural habitats, landscapes (steep gradients) and biodiversity they shelter, but also to geological riches of the site and its cultural aspects. Givet Point is an old traffic area of strategic interest that has left its mark: *

Fortress of Charlemont The Fortress of Charlemont (french: Fort de Charlemont) is a French stronghold located near the Belgian border on the Meuse. It is a citadel, surrounded by a network of outworks, including the connecting forts (Givet and the Mont d'Hours). It domi ...

(''Fort de Charlemont'') (9th Zouaves commando training centre from 1962 to 2009); * France's Gate (''Porte de France'') (fortification formerly protecting access to

); * Grégoire tower (''Tour Grégoire'') (dating from the 11th century, which controlled the road and river routes); * Haurs Mount Fortress (''Fort du Mont d'Haurs'') (designed by Vauban to support Fortress of Charlemont, but never completed). The site has become a centre of environmental education, offering trails, guided tours and study facilities.

Administration, management plan, regulations

The management is ensured by the Conservatory of Natural Spaces of Champagne-Ardenne (''Conservatoire d'espaces naturels de Champagne-Ardenne'') and the National Forests Office Ardennes (''ONF Ardennes''). The first management plan (2003-2007) enabled restoration work (reopening of dry lawns) thanks to brushcutting and mowing with export made by students, reintegration teams or "nature work camps".

Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s have been used since 2005 to remove the bushes from part of the "Aviette Maurière ravines" by extensive grazing. An evaluation of the management plan was started in 2007. The second management plan 2008-2012 is completed.

Tools and legal status

The nature reserve was classified in application of the law of July 10, 1976, by a decree of March 4, 1999. Several protection perimeters overlap there: registered and classified sites, ZNIEFF types I and II, ZICO, ZSC and APPB.

References

Main source: Réserves Naturelles de France, and ''Lettre des réserves naturelles'' n^o 92 (4th trimester 2007). * DIREN/

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in ...

(2004)
"Note sur les réserves naturelles en Champagne-Ardenne"
* RNF (2001)
"Rapport et recommandation sur chasse et réserves (ministère chargé de l'écologie)"
(July 2001). Remark: Is no longer up to date concerning hunting lead regulations) * Fontaine, M.; Leestmans, R. & Duvigneaud, J. (1983). ''Les Lépidoptères de la partie méridionale de l'Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse et de la pointe de Givet''. * Gallo, C. (1989). ''Les parasites du gros gibier dans les Ardennes: étude d'une population de la Pointe de Givet''. (doctoral thesis). {{Reflist Nature reserves in France