Conservation de la nature et dynamiques agricoles dans le territoire d'un Parc National : difficile convergence

International audienceThe Cévennes National Park was created in 1970 with the aim of conserving landscapes, lifestyles, habitats and species in the less populated areas of the region. These landscapes had been previously described as ruined by animal rearing but were no longer despised. On the contrary they were praised for their originality, their beauty and their apparently unchanged nature. Among several options, the project of the Park is focused on the conservation of the current state. Unlike other National Parks, human activities are not excluded from the park’s core area. The management principles of the Park includes a close interest paid to human activities. However – at least at the outset, their importance for conservation and landscape structure is not fully understood. These activities will evolve under the effects of national and european policies. When setting up a management system in a small area, the values and traditions of different groups (conservationists, farmers, forest owners and managers, hunters ...) have been brought together. The relationships between those diverses professional cultures were complicated by the emergence of a politicsof territorial development, by public support for farmers and by the resulting changes in farm management. Several interdisciplinary research programs have accompanied and guided park management. This article analyses the phases in the encounters between farmers and conservationists from the end of the 19th century when the first environmental analyses of the territory were issued and when farming, in the Cévennes and more widely, in all western Europe, were at the beginning of a major tranformationLe Parc National des Cévennes a été créé en 1970 pour protéger les paysages, les modes de vie, les habitats et les espèces des "hautes terres", celles qui étaient les moins peuplées de la région. Ces paysages qui avaient été autrefois décrits comme ruinés par les activités pastorales, sont appréciés par les promoteurs du Parc pour leur orginalité, leurs qualités esthétiques et une apparence de nature immuable. Parmi plusieurs options, le projet de conservation de l'état actuel est retenu. Au contraire d'autres Parcs Nationaux, les activités humaines ne sont pas exclues de la zone centrale/coeur de parc. La conception de la gestion du Parc est ouverte à la prise en compte des activités humaines mais leur importance n'est, au moins au départ, pas clairement comprise et ces activités vont évoluer sous l'effet des politiques nationales ou européennes