La Tourbière d'Heurteauville

The Tourbière d'Heurteauville (Heurteauville Peatbog) is located in the Seine Valley and the Boucles de la Seine Normande Regional Natural Park. Belonging to the Department of Seine-Maritime, this former peat extraction site is renowned for its 45-hectare (111-acre) lake and its exceptional habitats (wet woodland, calcareous wetland, wet heaths, etc.). It is home to numerous species of rare and protected plants (round-leaved sundew, prehistoric ferns, etc.) and several hundred species of animals, including some emblematic species (white stork, praying, etc.).
The site has been farmed for more than 6,000 years. Peat has been exploited as early as 1758. It was used as a fertilizer in gardens and as dried bricks for heating. The extraction was done using small-scale traditional methods until 1987, then different companies started to exploit the wetland in a more industrial way. The exploitation ended in 2007 and the site began to be managed in a way that conserved the wealth of natural resources and heritage character of the site.
This site belongs and is managed by the Department of Seine Maritime.