In Ain, the ban on a natural site makes us think about the increasingly restricted right of access to nature

It is an almost magical landscape, in the heart of Bugey, a mountainous region of Ain. The Fouge waterfall is a delight for walkers, provided you take a path lined with trees covered in thick moss. The more adventurous can also abseil down the limestone rock to the dizzying waterfall. For years, Éric Chaxel and Bruno Hugon, two mountain guides from Ain, have organized canyoning activities on this emblematic site. But, since January 2022, an invisible gate has prevented them from passing. At the entrance to the trail, scarlet red signs indicate that access to the place is prohibited, by municipal decree. “The municipality has not even bothered to install a barrier and the hikers continue to come,” mocks Éric Chaxel.

Beautiful and risky, the Fouge waterfall crystallizes tensions between athletes and the municipality of Cerdon. The municipality, whose territory covers part of the site, has decided to make access illegal. The cause: a series of landslides, falling trees and several serious accidents. “The closure of this site was a real blow, for professionals and amateurs alike,” sighs Bruno Hugon.

In Ain, at least four rocky sites are now off-limits. The department is far from being the only one affected. In France, the closures of climbing, canyoning and sometimes even hiking sites are increasing. The avalanche of orders began in January 2023, when the French Mountain and Climbing Federation (FFME) chose to no longer manage a large part of the cliffs. It withdrew because the responsibility for these steep places was proving too costly for its insurer. Four years earlier, the courts had found the FFME guilty of negligence and the federation had to pay more than a million euros in compensation to injured rope access technicians.

Accidents on the rise

Now, only a few Alpine clubs have taken over the management of some of the sites. But the others are not contracted, and their owners can decide to ban them – in the massifs, 10% to 50% of the land is private. The mayors of the communes also have police powers over the mountains in their territory, and can ban access to them, according to the law. Some elected officials tremble at the idea of ​​a climbing or caving enthusiast getting injured, as serious accidents are increasing. And, with them, legal proceedings for compensation. Because now, the mountains no longer only attract sports enthusiasts who are careful to set foot on the rock with caution. Canyoning and climbing have become more popular, and more curious people are now setting off to conquer the cliffs. In Cerdon, the former mayor, Marc Chavent, preferred to ban the site in an attempt to avoid new tragedies. The Fouge waterfall was regularly in the local media for its serious accidents and tragedies. In 2009, three firefighters lost their lives in a rescue operation after falling.

“If you develop a site, you encourage people to come. If you don’t warn the public enough about its dangers, you risk being convicted…”, laments Marc Chavent, for whom the current law is unsuitable. More skeptical, the guide Bruno Hugon retorts: “To my knowledge, no mayor has been convicted in a mountain accident.” The case of La Fouge illustrates that regional culture influences the way we approach the mountains. In the Pyrenees or Savoy mountains, where locals live to the rhythm of the mountains and have integrated their dangers, bans are rare. Significant economic stakes weigh in the balance and elected officials consider that risk is part of the expedition.

The threat of overtourism

The underlying issue is the right of access to nature. The mountain is seen as a space of freedom, where we can all move around. But can it really belong to everyone? The bans call this philosophy into question, at a time when overtourism threatens the balance of natural spaces. From now on, the mountain is no longer just tamed, it is consumed, through leisure and outdoor sports. For environmental associations and some guides, this right to nature is accompanied by increasingly strict duties. It is a question of thinking about better management of the sites, to protect both walkers and the mountain.

In the Drôme, a pilot project seeks to show the way. Since spring 2023, the department has been financially supporting town halls to encourage them to take over the care of the sites, in collaboration with climbing clubs. This new management model could spread, to finally watch over the mountain, with serenity.