THE MOUNTAIN PASTURE

 

In order to reserve the most profitable meadows for the production of hay, the animals are driven to graze as high as possible. (transhumance see below). They follow the regrowth of the grass after the snow melts. The animals were released in April or May around the village. In June, it is possible to drive them in the alpine chalet of medium altitude which is towards 1700-1800m, then in July in the chalet of altitude 2100-2300m. At the beginning of September, during the first snows, the animals go down to the intermediate chalet for a month then everyone returns to the village. This concept of mountain pasture is very old.

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Currently different factors make it no longer necessary to move in alpine chalets. First, there is the rural exodus that has been particularly strong in those areas where work is too hard. In the mountains, the yields are of course lower than elsewhere, it is generally possible to make only one harvest in the year, and it is relatively thin. It requires more trouble (the machines are smaller or even unusable) and the risk of accident is greater. The mountain pasture has been gradually abandoned (at least in the Arvan valley) from the beginning of the 1960s. The appearance of the electric parks makes it possible to leave the animals at altitude without constant surveillance, the dairy cows being kept at the same time around the village farm.

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Switzerland has protected this mountain work with subsidies to give the same opportunities to lowland and mountain farms. They were able to preserve traditional farms and products. In France, in regions equipped for skiing agricultural work (especially summer) is complete with work related to winter tourism. In these areas, the rural exodus has been limited, allowing the exploitation of land not too difficult to work. But the mountain pasture has rarely preserved its character, either it is over-equipped for skiing, or it is abandoned.

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A few mid-altitude chalets have been converted into a holiday villa, with windows enlarged, openings created on the roof or in the gable to convert the barn, construction of masonry chimneys, cement plaster or falsely rustic plaster, cauldrons transformed into planters hanging under the roof, shutters with Z painted in red, the installation of polished curl, it is undoubtedly very comfortable, but, it is also, in another way the death of an alpine chalet, and of a very questionable taste by his contempt of the style of construction and life of the mountains of the region.

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Chalets that are more difficult to access, especially the high-altitude cottages, have been abandoned. Even though their construction is well done, they do not stand indefinitely without maintenance. As soon as an element begins to degrade, a breach and made in defense against the violent climate of mountain and the degradation is fast. In fact, out of 10 mountain chalets on aerial photographs and post-war maps, there is only one where there is something recoverable. At average altitude, there may be five left, one of which has been converted into a pavilion.

  

The General Council of Savoy does nothing to help rebuild or conserve this heritage outside the park zones. They are not able to give a grant or advise on local traditional architecture, and obviously they do not impose strict standards on mountain construction of modern buildings, nor on the transformation of traditional houses. If the balance sheet is not very brilliant from an architectural point of view in this region, from the point of view of the environment, it's better, the ridge on the southern border of the Savoy is not badly damaged by the ski facilities, and relatively unpolluted by passenger planes. This makes this area interesting for safeguarding alpine chalets on either side. The General Council of the Hautes-Alpes is much more attentive to the safeguarding of its patrimony, it allows him to have preserved entire villages without transformations or creations that ruin the external aspect.

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