Livradois-Forez Regional Natural Park (, ) is a regional natural park located on three French department :

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, Lozère, Canta ...

and

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

. The two biggest urban areas are Thiers (19,000 inhabitants) and

Ambert Ambert (; Auvergnat: ''Embèrt'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Puy-de-Dôme Departments of France, department in Auvergne (region), Auvergne in central France. Administration Ambert is the seat of the canton of Ambert and the arrondiss ...

(11,000 inhabitants). Courpière,

Billom Billom (; Auvergnat: ''Bilhom'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central France. Population Notable natives Billom was the birthplace of the philosopher Georges Bataille. It was also the birt ...

and Vic-le-Comte have a secondary place in the territory.

Presentation

The park is managed by several structures on a cooperation basis. There is the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

region, Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire and Loire's departments, by 24 EPCI (French: Établissements publics de coopération intercommunale, which are Public institutions of intercommunal cooperation) and also by 164 towns certified parc naturel régional (Regional natural park). Since March 2008, Tony Bernard, Châteldon's mayor, presides the park. The certified zone of the park covers an area of 311,035 hectares.Bilan 2017 - parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez - juin 2018
(in French) Its population is of 103 948 inhabitants.

History and creation of the park

* Under the presidence of Maurice Adevah-Pœuf, Thier's mayor and deputy of Puy-de-Dôme, an association for the creation of the Livradois-Forez Regional Natural Park is established in April 1982 at the suggestion of seventeen elected reunited 29 November 1981 in Brugeron. * In 1984 is created the management mixed union of the Livradois-Forez Park. * The environment ministry assigned its label in December 1985. * The Livradois-Forez Regional Natural Park was created on 4 February 1986 by deliberation of the Auvergne regional council. * Its constitutive charter was re-examined two times, so the label was assigned again in 1998 ; an extension decree of the Regional Natural Park for the next twelve years was published in Journal Officiel (French government website) on 27 July 2011. On the occasion of this latest review, five municipalities of Loire's department joined for the first time the park : Noirétable, La Chamba, La Chambonie, Jeansagnière et Lérigneux. Its headquarters, originally in Thiers, is now located in the municipality named Saint-Gervais-sous-Meymont.

Geography

Located between the old Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes regions, the park extends 110 km from north to south, in three departments (Puy-de-Dôme, Allier and Haute-Loire). It's composed of 176 municipalities gathering 103,172 inhabitants in 2014. The highest point of the park (1634 m) corresponds to the highest point of the

Forez mountains The Forez mountains (, ) are a mountain range in the Massif Central separating the Dore (river), Dore valley from the Forez plain. They reach their highest point at Pierre-sur-Haute, with an altitude of 1,631 meters. Geography Location The Fo ...

and is located at Pierre-sur-Haute, within the territory of the municipality of Job, in the Puy-de-Dôme department. Some big geographic zones: * the valley of factories in Thiers's municipality (in the North of the park); * the valley of the Dore, which constitutes a sort of backbone of the park; * the mountains of the Forez with upland plateaus covered with highland moors called Hautes Chaumes; * Craponne's plateau; * the countries cut off from Livradois; * Livradois's mountains, including the high forest plateaus; * hills and hillsides of the county around Vic-le-Comte and Billom's region

Demography

The park is constituted of two major cities, Thiers and Ambert. There are other urban areas but less important. The majority of the biggest cities in the park tend to see its population decrease. Meanwhile, Thiers the biggest city of the park, increase.

Fauna

One can find various raptors in the Livradois-Forez regional natural park :Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez, carte touristique et patrimoine & circuits de découverte

pigeons Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

, circaete Jean-le-Blanc,

red kite The red kite (''Milvus milvus'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other Diurnality, diurnal Bird of prey, raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harrier (bird), harriers. The species currently breeds only i ...

buzzard Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Easte ...

, harrier Saint-Martin, gray buzzard, tengmalm owl,

little owl The little owl (''Athene noctua''), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva, is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea, and North Africa. It was introduced into Britain at t ...

, etc. The

Black woodpecker The black woodpecker (''Dryocopus martius'') is a large woodpecker that lives in mature forests across the northern Palearctic. It is the sole representative of its genus in that region. Its range is expanding. The black woodpecker is easily the ...

and the

Ring ouzel The ring ouzel (''Turdus torquatus'') is a mainly European member of the thrush family Turdidae. It is a medium-sized thrush, in length and weighing . The male is predominantly black with a conspicuous white crescent across its breast. Females ...

can also be seen in the park.

Publications

Apart from its punctual participation as a supporter, editor of numerous books (historics, etc.) published by various editors of the region, the Park released a twice yearly 8 page magazine, ''Journal du Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez'', which contents are linked to the environment protection, social life, traditions and culture.

Films shot in the Livradois-Forez Regional Natural

Before the creation of the parc

* 1965 : Les Copains a French film directed by

Yves Robert Yves Robert (; 19 June 1920 – 10 May 2002) was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Life and career Robert was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. In his teens, he went to Paris to pursue a career in acting, starting w ...

* 1976 : L'argent de poche a French film directed by

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

in Thiers

Since the creation of the parc

* 1990 :

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

a French film directed by

Claude Berri Claude Berri (; 1 July 1934 – 12 January 2009) was a French film director, writer, producer, actor and distributor. Early life Born Claude Beri Langmann in Paris, Berri was the son of Jewish immigrant parents. His mother, Beila (née Bercu), ...

* 1993 : Le Chasseur de la Nuit a French film directed by

Jacques Renard Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...

* 1995 : Le Garçu a French film directed by

Maurice Pialat Maurice Pialat (; 31 August 1925 – 11 January 2003) was a French film director, screenwriter and actor known for the rigorous and unsentimental style of his films. His work is often described as " realist",

* 2002 :

Être et avoir In French grammar, verbs are a part of speech. Each verb lexeme has a collection of Finite verb, finite and Non-finite verb, non-finite forms in its Grammatical conjugation, conjugation scheme. Finite forms depend on grammatical Grammatical tens ...

a French documentary directed by

Nicolas Philibert Nicolas Philibert (; born 10 January 1951) is a French film director and actor. Biography Philibert was born in Nancy, France. He studied philosophy in the University of Grenoble. Philibert's father was a film lecturer and he attended his talks ...

* 2004 :

Les Choristes ''Les Choristes'' ("The Chorus" or "The Chorus Singers") is an 1877 pastel on monotyping, monotype by French artist Edgar Degas. Part of a series of similar works depicting daily public entertainment at the time, it shows a group of singers perf ...