Forest of Sénart

The forest of Sénart is a domanial Forêt of the south-east of the Île-de-France, with horse on the departments of Seine-et-Marne and of the the Essonne.

Physical geography

The forest of Sénart extends on approximately 3  000 hectares, at the western end of the plate of the Brie, between the valleys of the the Seine and the Yerres. It is with its argillaceous basement and with its absence of relief that the presence of approximately 800 ponds is due, its safeguard causes.

Flora

The principal gasolines are the Chêne, of which some are several times centenaries, the Châtaignier, the Charme, the Bouleau, the woodland Pin and others Résineux. The majority of the coniferous trees result from replanting on pieces destroyed by fires.

Unfortunately, the forest suffered much from the storms of December 1999 and August 2000.

Fauna

It is the usual fauna of the forests of Ile-de-France: Wild boar S, Roe-deer S, Fox S, Hare S, rabbits and squirrel S. the winged race is represented by the Pigeon S, Bécasse S, corbel X, Canard S, crow S, Pie S and Geai S. Its many ponds shelter several species of Grenouille S and Batracien S, from which some are protected.

History

The forest of Sénart - crowned forest of the Druidisme - is a relic of the old wooded arc of the Parisian East. At the 9th century, it still joined the forest of Fontainebleau and was attached to North with the wood of Vincennes, Livry and Bondy.

Located at less than 30 km of Paris, she, very early, is coveted by the kings of France. She belonged to the royal Domaine since Philippe Beautiful the in 1314 until the French revolution. Saint Louis would have created the Hermitage Notre-Dame de Consolation.

For huntings needs, Louis XIV fact of arranging rectilinear forest roads and the star crossroads. One there hunt the wolf and the stag. In same time, vast work of drainage is ordered (the main sewers such as the Daniel ditch are still visible). Louis XVI which practiced also hunting with shooting made there establish pheasantries.

It is told that it is in forest of Sénart that, at the time of a royal hunting, Louis XV met Mme Lenormand d' Etiolles (Jeanne Poisson) which will become the marchioness of Pompadour.

Later, Louis XVI instituted with the profit of his brother, the count of Provence and future Louis XVIII, then owner of the castle of Brunoy, the Harbor office of Huntings of Sénart. The registers of grievances of the inhabitants of Draveil will claim the suppression in 1789.

To 17th and 19th centuries, the wood of the forest of Sénart is led to Paris by floatation on the Seine. Many coalmen living in the forest produced Charcoal there.

The painter Eugene Delacroix, the writer Alphonse Daudet which lived in Champrosay (commune of Draveil), were inspired not these landscapes.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the attraction of the forest of Sénart for the public is not contradicted: it receives more than 3 million visits per annum!

Today, the national forest is managed by the National office of the forests (ONF). It is currently a coveted, with the multiple stakes of social order, economic and environmental area, recovering sometimes contradictory interests…

The July 26th 2006, a fire devastated 90 hectares of the forest on the level of the communes of Brunoy and Montgeron.

Protection

By decree of December 15th, 1995, the solid mass of Sénart was classified in forest of protection.

Administrative geography

The forest of Sénart extends on eleven communes:

It gave its name to:

  • the new city of Sénart (77 and 91), to which belong Combs-the-City and Tigery,
  • community of agglomeration of Sénart (77),
  • community of agglomeration of Sénart-Essonnes (91),
  • the Communauté of agglomeration of Sénart Val-de-Seine (91), which gathers the three communes of Draveil, Montgeron, the Vigneux-on-Seine.

Photographs

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