The energy transition enhances the landscape of the Bruche valley

Chaire Paysage et énergie (ENSP), 2022

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Evolution of the Bruche Valley landscape: geological diversity and industrial history

1 - A recent history marked by industrialisation

Until the 19th century, the population lived mainly from agriculture and forestry work. The traditional grouped housing and the collective agricultural practices present until the middle of the 20th century bear witness to a strong community life. These ways of life are still present today and can be seen in the valley’s landscapes. Each of the villages has its own unique urban form and a unified architecture. Each natural unit has a particular agrarian logic. Very early on, artisanal, mining and then industrial activities developed in the valley, taking advantage of the resources of the soil, water and an abundant workforce. The 19th century saw an extraordinary development of the textile and metal industries, which left their mark on the rural landscape.

2 - The evolution of landscapes in the era of deindustrialisation

The landscape underwent a profound change after the Second World War. Industry went into crisis from the 1950s onwards and slowly disappeared from the valley. The majority of the workers, who had previously been peasant workers, left to work in Molsheim and Strasbourg. Agriculture was gradually abandoned. The communal areas became fertile or were wooded, mainly with conifers. The countryside is closing in and losing its legibility. Modernisation » from outside is leading to profound changes in the way of life and in heritage and cultural references. Characteristic architecture is being replaced by standardised houses. The urban and collective space of the valley changes. « While the rural space is reverting to wasteland and forest, the urban space is breaking up into small individual pieces where each person creates his or her own « sam’ enough ». The landscape is crumbling and becoming illegible to the benefit of a material abundance » Landscape study of the Bruche valley - Volume 1: diagnosis - 1992.

The community of communes of the Bruche valley: leader of the landscape policy

The worrying evolution of the Bruche landscapes provoked a political reaction in the 1980s aimed at safeguarding agriculture and the mountain landscapes. In 1980, the first Intercommunal Multipurpose Syndicate (SIVOM) of the Haute-Bruche region was created, which initiated a new local economic development. In 1988, the inter-municipality implemented a communal charter in which the landscape was fully integrated.

« Do not accept wasteland as an inevitable development, produce quality landscapes that express the reconciliation of local people with their land, do not want to plagiarise traditional postcard landscapes » Espaces naturels, n32, 10/2010, p 31

Five issues are developed for a reclaiming of the landscape: the living environment, the economic issue, the tourism issue, the identity issue and the environmental issue.

1 - The desire to safeguard rural agricultural landscapes

In order to support these developments, a first pastoral land association (AFP) was created in 1986 in the commune of Colroy-la-Roche. Twenty-two others followed to bring together a significant amount of agricultural land to allow a landscape approach to the theme of reopening the valley. The AFP is one of the tools developed by the Communauté de communes de la Vallée de la Bruche in order to give concrete expression to the intermunicipal landscape policy.

It meets the 5 major objectives of this policy:

• To improve the landscape aspect of the Valley, making it more pleasant for its inhabitants and more attractive for tourism To encourage biodiversity

• To develop and support mountain agriculture

• Safeguard the economic and social life of the villages concerned

• Establish a harmonious relationship between the natural environment and society.

(Extract from the document: Communauté de communes de la Vallée de la Bruche)

The AFP approach also makes it possible to give value and meaning to undeveloped areas. By offering a vocation to the valley floor, the plots of land are no longer « empty », they are part of an overall project. It is therefore easier to control urbanisation. This approach facilitates the zoning of the PLU, which is no longer administrative, but rather the bearer of a project. The AFP is a tool for urban control.

« It is not a question of fooling people, but of being sincere with them and making them understand the interest of a project with a landscape choice elaborated together. Pierre Grandadam, elected official and president of the Communauté de commune de la Vallée de la Bruche.

A series of support measures for mountain agriculture have also been put in place: special mountain allowance (ISM), grants for young farmers, aid for pastoral renovation, etc. The Community of Communes of the Bruche Valley is actively participating in this movement.

This policy has made it possible to double the number of farmers in the valley between 1980 and 2019, some of whom are tenants on AFP land. The valley has regained 1,000 ha of meadows and 48 more hours of sunshine per year in 30 years.

(Sources: General Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development. General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas n° 012342-01n° 18085)

2 - Landscape approach through a landscape plan

In 1991, a landscape study was started by a full-time landscape project manager, Jean-Baptiste Laumond, and the urban planner and landscape architect, François Tacquard. This study led to the first landscape plan for the valley. It presents a landscape diagnosis and divides the territory into four landscape units. It proposes landscape quality objectives on which 21 actions are based, mainly centred on the restoration of communal pastures, the reopening of wet valley bottoms and the clearing of land near the villages.

The commune of Saâles, at the heart of a changing plateau landscape

The current elaboration of the PCAET is part of a global dynamic and can already be based on concrete local experiences initiated by municipalities and private companies. Three experiences can be cited which help to understand the local issues surrounding the production of biomass, wind and hydraulic energy. The commune of Saâles is situated at the southern end of the Community of Communes, on the heights of the valley, at the foot of the Belfays massif which links the Bruche valley with the landscapes to the south. This borderline position makes Saâles a singular player closely linked to communes outside the Community of Communes. « Saâles had the highest energy costs in Alsace, with temperatures varying from 4 to 5°C lower in the homes than in Strasbourg. This energy insecurity was the trigger for the municipality’s desire to develop local sustainable energy production with the creation of a wood-fired boiler and a wind farm. (J. Vogel, former mayor of Saâles)

The boiler room

The municipality carried out extensive consultation to justify the investment in a wood boiler. The integration of the boiler room into the landscape and the advantages it offered helped to overcome the few reservations. Commissioned in 2005, the boiler blends into the built-up area. The boiler room serves a total of 9 communal buildings, 5 houses and 2 collective housing buildings. The municipality now wishes to set up a genuine local supply chain.

Wind turbines on the Belfays Plateau

The Belfays plateau dominates the village of Saâles and separates the Bruche valley from the Rabodeau valley. Around this wooded plateau are the villages of the six communes concerned by the wind farm project. This project was initiated by the communes of Saâles and Grande Fosse in 2003. It was then extended to the communes of Ban-de-Sapt, Châtas, Grandrupt and Saint-Stail. A merger policy was put in place between the six communes. Throughout the project, systematic communication is taking place in order to set an example in terms of consultation and consideration of landscape and environmental issues. 10 wind turbines with a capacity of 2MgWh have been installed in the forest, enough to supply electricity to nearly 15,000 homes in the area.

Not all of the 10 wind turbines are visible from the centre of the communities. Some of them are visible from the canopy at a distance that does not disturb the landscape seen from the villages. As you move away from the plateau and its foothills, the park takes on a different dimension. In the south, it can be seen from several dozen kilometres away on a clear day. To the north, the park is visible from the heights of the valley. It is a landmark that marks the limit of the valley. As the only park visible on the horizon, finely implanted in the heights of the wooded plateau, the group of wind turbines constitutes a landmark of the territory.

Regional biomass energy production to perpetuate fragile forests

At the northern end of the valley, the SIAT sawmill, located on the edge of the D1420 road, marks the entrance to the upper Bruche valley and the Vosges mountains. Today, it is one of the leaders in the French timber industry and one of the largest and most modern softwood sawmills in Europe. It has been able to take advantage of the industrialisation of the sector where the small historic Vosges sawmills have not survived. The company offers a wide range of timber for construction and furnishing. Since 2012, it has been using a cogeneration plant that produces electricity from the sawmill’s bark. All of the sawdust from the sawmill is also used to produce pellets for use in boilers. The SIAT group is therefore a key player in the region, particularly in terms of energy transition. Its energy production figures are integrated by the PETR and considerably increase the share of « renewable energy » production in the Bruche Valley.

However, they must be qualified. The sawmill’s wood supply extends from the southern Jura to the Belgian Ardennes. Energy production therefore goes far beyond the boundaries of the valley. In addition to this extra-local area of influence, the use of wood in biomass energy involves the sustainable management of the resource. The Vosges forests are not spared by global warming, which questions the capacity of the environment to regenerate.

Waldersbach, a positive hydraulic energy community

The village of Waldersbach is located in a narrow valley where the Schirgoutte river flows. A private hydroelectric plant injects energy into the network, producing enough to supply a village of 130 inhabitants. The plant produces 500,000 kWh per year, slightly more than the village’s electricity consumption. The plant is located in an old textile factory, which has been preserved and modernised. This example of production is rather secondary on the scale of the Bruche valley, but not negligible more locally on the scale of the many existing valleys. According to Mr Raymann, mayor of the village and specialist in hydroelectricity, a certain number of power stations can be rehabilitated in the valley. However, only small plants could be installed, ranging from 50 to 250 kWh. There are major obstacles to these possibilities: the installations are very costly and the return on investment is long; the turbines require daily attention: « a job for enthusiasts »; major ecological constraints must be taken into account.

These obstacles are leading to a decrease in the number of installations. All these small installations cannot be managed by the communities below 500 MWh.

« There is no problem of integration in the landscape because here, it is the landscape that imposes its rules on the village and not the other way round. Mr. Reymann, owner and manager of the micro power plant.

1 - Landscape policy: economy, tourism and landscape heritage

Today, the intermunicipality plays a leading role. It has been able to develop financial and planning tools to implement this landscape policy, which it has been leading for over 20 years. In terms of method, the policy is based on :

• an important reflection process, which has made it possible to define the main principles and concepts to be implemented on the territory;

• actions, which put the protagonists in motion and in synergy;

• communication, now made possible thanks to the hindsight of the actions.

In terms of objectives, the current development axes of the Haute-Bruche defined in the territorial diagnosis on the one hand and the reflections carried out within the thematic working groups on the other hand make it possible to propose five priority development axes:

1. Strengthen the dynamic local economy that creates jobs by means of a strategy of reception, promotion and adapted economic activities, while specifying the financial pact between the communes and the community of communes.

2. To promote good social cohesion and strengthen the attractiveness of the territory by developing modern services for the population.

3. To amplify policies for the management of the countryside with the aim of preserving a quality heritage and offering a pleasant living environment.

4. Pursue a policy of diversifying tourism to enhance the Upper Bruche.

5. To strengthen the technical, political and financial structure of the Community of Municipalities, in order to adapt it to the challenges of the territory.

2 - At a time of ecological and energy transition: climate plan and landscape plan

The main development axes of the intermunicipality are linked to the current climate and energy transition issues. In order to address these issues, the intercommunality relies on the Pôle d’Equilibre Territorial et Rural (PETR) Bruche Mossig, which is responsible for developing and implementing a territorial development strategy for the three communities of communes that make up the PETR: Mossig et Vignoble, Vallée de la Bruche, and the Molsheim-Mutzig region. Since 2009, the PETR has included the issue of energy transition in its work. In February 2020, a large ideas laboratory was set up. The elected representatives of the territories were invited to take part in a workshop to consolidate the Climate Air Energy Territory Plan (PCAET) strategy and to think about the actions to be taken in each sector. These actions fall within three main strategic areas:

1. Towards a territorial model of energy sobriety

2. Energy autonomy as a lever for sustainable development

3. Maintaining a sustainable and desirable living environment.

Now the bodies of the Bruche-Mossig PETR and the elected representatives of each commune have to agree on the overall strategy of the Climate Air Energy Plan. A summary of all the work carried out in partnership with civil society has been produced. The final validation is up to the new elected representatives who will have to implement the PCAET. This is an important time which requires the Community of Communes of the Bruche Valley to make its actions coherent and to integrate them into a landscape approach which is in line with the continuity of the policies conducted.

3 - Landscape linkage scales: from the Community of Municipalities to local players

The political will to preserve landscapes introduced in the 1970s has led to placing the landscape at the heart of community projects and giving responsibility to the inhabitants and associations. A beneficial entry to concretize the actions of the Climate Plan. Thierry Stieffer, re-elected mayor of Ranrupt, testifies, during a presentation of the communal wood heating plant, to the importance of carrying out sustainable actions in the continuity of landscape enhancement. He evokes « an awareness of doing things together » and has actively participated in the elaboration of the PCAET.

4 - Mapping the objectives of the WCAP at the valley level

In the same way as what was done to preserve the agricultural landscapes of the Bruche valley, the Community of Municipalities must now produce a landscape plan that integrates existing installations and future renewable energy production projects. The PCAET sets numerical objectives, but there is currently no document that allows them to be materialized. Mapping the targeted locations, understanding the current dynamics of the landscapes, accompanying the development projects collectively with the elected representatives, associations and inhabitants, will make it possible to ensure that the landscape is taken into account and that the desired integration of the energy facilities is achieved.

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