Mercantour National Park is one of eleven national parks in
France. It is located in the departments of Alpes-Maritimes and
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. It is more particularly known for being
one of the wildest in France, and one of the most varied in
terms of landscapes, with very marked contrasts: its very
particular geographical location, near the Côte d'Azur, brings
Mediterranean touches to these alpine mountains. This is where
the wolf naturally made its return to France in 1992 from Italy.
Its core is classified as a Category II protected area by
the World Commission on Protected Areas of the International
Union for Conservation of Nature, while its Optimal Membership
Area is classified as Category V.
Location: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Map
Area: 264 sq mi (685 sq km)
Highest point: 10,309 ft (3,143 m)
Tel. +334 9281 2131
Official site
Mercantour National Park protected area if covered by a network of hiking trails. In total there are 56 routes with a total length of 600 km that range in various difficulty as well as length. The shortest trail is only half an hour long, while the longest can be covered in three days. One of the more interesting trails is that by Mount Bego. It was inhabited by the early humans since late Neolithic period. These hunters left interesting petroglyphs on the granite rock that is still visible today.
In order to protect wildlife, the central territories of the
Mercantour massif were first classified as a Royal Hunting Reserve in
1859 by King Victor-Emmanuel II, then a Hunting Reserve in 1946 by
prefectural decree and a Reserve in 1953 by ministerial decree. In 1936,
the National Society of Acclimatization of France, founded in 1854 and
then became the National Society for the Protection of Nature, also
established the Lauzanier nature reserve, integrated into the Mercantour
national park when it was created.
The national park was created
in 1979. Since 1987 it has been twinned with the neighboring regional
park Parco naturale Alpi Marittime in Italy (on the Argentera massif),
with which it has 33 km of common border and with which a project
European Park is also under study. In 1992, the wolf made a natural
comeback from Italy. In 2009, a new decree modified its founding decree
(1979), and its charter was approved by the Prime Minister on December
28, 2012 and submitted to the adhesion of its 28 municipalities, after
four years of development in consultation with all territorial partners.
To date, 23 of the 28 municipalities have wished to commit to this
charter.
In 2013, the site of the Mercantour National Park and
the Parco delle Alpi Marittime was included on the tentative lists of
UNESCO World Heritage in both countries.
From 2013, the Park will
benefit from a common management entity with the Maritime Alps Natural
Park, on the Italian side, under the name of European Natural Park, a
prelude to a possible inscription on the World Heritage of Humanity of
the UNESCO and laboratory for cross-border cooperation in the management
of protected natural areas.
The ten National Parks of France are
currently reinforced by National Parks of France, a public institution
responsible for ensuring the synergy of general resources as well as the
national and international image of these nature protection tools.
In 2018, the membership area of the Mercantour National Park is
extended to the municipality of Barcelonnette.