Mas Saint-Chély, MTB circuit #5 (graded blue)

5 points of interest

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  Natural environment

  The Scots pine

  The Scots pine is the main natural tree variety of the Grands Causses plateaux, as it is well-adapted to poor soils. You can recognise it by it its bark, which is a reddish brown to salmon-ochre colour on the upper part of the trunk; its needles are short and paired. Being hardy, it does not fear climate change. As a pioneer species, it settles on abandoned land. 

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  Agriculture

  The Causse sheep

  The Blanche du Massif Central (BMC) is a sheep variety that originated on the Margeride plateau. Its hardiness means that it is well-adapted the mountain climate. Its quality meat and its capacity to produce lambs at all times of the year are appreciated by the meat industry and have made it increasingly popular.

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  Flora

  Adonis vernalis (spring pheasant's eye)

  Whilst this member of the buttercup family might seem plentiful, it has become rare and is limited to a few places in France (Causses, Alsace) and south-eastern Europe. It can be seen in April-May in the steppe flora. This plant is protected – you may take photos but under no circumstances take the plant! It secretes a substance through its roots that tends to limit the growth of plants around it, especially legumes.

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  Natural environment

  Boxwood

   The scientific name of boxwood, Buxus semperviens, means “always green”. It is the best-known shrub on the Causses but also the most invasive. Its small shiny leaves limit water loss in the heat. Box is low-maintenance and tolerates poor and dry soils as well as wide temperature variations. It invades pastures; sheep do not like its leaves at all. It is hard to get rid of, and only the regular trampling of the flocks stops its progress. In the old days, it was sometimes used as manure on fields.

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  History

  Woods and deforestation

  Afforestation and deforestation seem to be the fate of the Causse landscape. In the Neolithic, the first farmer-shepherds settled on the fertile areas of the plateaux, which were covered by beech and oak forest at the time. This lead to the forest being cleared for sheep pasture and for farmland. With demographic expansion, deforestation accelerated and the cultivated areas expanded. Subsequently, the local potteries, lime kilns and, later, mines brought about a new wave of deforestation to satisfy their need for wood.