Regional Natural Park of the Ardennes

The regional park of Ardennes or PNR Ardennes is a regional natural park created on December 21, 2011, whose footprint occupies about 116 000 hectares of the department of Ardennes .

Born after a long period of gestation and many debates on the interest of this label, it includes 91 communes and 76 000 inhabitants. It covers 22% of the area of the Ardennes department . Charleville-Mézières , prefecture of the Ardennes, has the status of gateway city associated with the park.

This territory is marked by the coexistence of a rural and forestry tradition, and a manufacturing tradition, accounting for 36% of industrial jobs in the department. From a geological point of view, it constitutes a transition zone, with a remarkable diversity of landscapes and a great wealth of natural heritage: it includes 54 areas of ecological interest, fauna and flora and seven Natura 2000 sites , forests , peat bogs , heaths , dry lawns , slates , rocky escarpments, deep valleys , groves , etc. The territory concerned is a land of legends, but also of fighting. This border zone has repeatedly been the field of quarrels between men. The architecture of this region is a reflection of this history, these landscapes and this geology: limestone of Thiérache , blue stone of Givet , half-timbered houses , fortified churches, citadels and medieval castles, but also industrial buildings and villages witness the ironwork and the adventure of the ironmasters .

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