The Calissane grazing area, home to the largest population of Crau Plain Grasshoppers, receives special attention. Numerous actions are being carried out there: grasshopper counts, rearing in aviaries, surveys in little-known areas and, above all, habitat management measures.
As part of the Calissane management plan, grazing routes have been adapted in spring (the season when the Crau Plain Grasshopper is present and breeding), with less frequent grazing in areas with a high density of Grasshoppers.
To compensate for this, the project partners have put in place measures to increase the grazing area at the beginning of 2023: the north of the site, which for decades had been overgrown by impenetrable thickets of rushes and brambles, is being reopened. A total of 16 hectares has been fenced off and is now used as a night pasture by the Calissane flock in the spring. A flock of 200 sheep takes over for the rest of the year.
The results of this intensified grazing are already clearly visible, with a herbaceous layer in the process of forming. Mechanical intervention (localised scrub clearance in the densest thickets) will be added as required. The long-term aim is to reintegrate this area into existing grazing circuits.
Many thanks to the GAEC du Mistral for its major contribution to the success of all these operations!
Perrine TURIEZ, Bouches du Rhône Chamber of Agriculture,
LIFE SOS Crau Plain Grasshopper project manager