Camargue

The Camargue (French pronunciation: ​[kaˈmaʁɡ]) (Occitan: Camarga in classical norm or Camargo in Mistralian norm) is a natural region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône.

Administratively it lies within the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, the appropriately named "Mouths of the Rhône", and covers parts of the territory of the communes of Arles – the largest commune in Metropolitan France, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer – the second largest – and Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. A further expanse of marshy plain, the Petite Camargue (little Camargue), just to the west of the Petit Rhône, is in the département of Gard.

Camargue was designated a Ramsar site as a "Wetland of International Importance" on 1 December 1986.

Geography

With an area of over 930 km² (360 sq mi), the Camargue is western Europe's largest river delta. It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes. These are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area.

La Grande, Oregon

La Grande /ləˈɡrænd/ is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. Originally named "Brownsville," it was forced to change its name because that name was already being used for a city in Linn County. Its current name comes from an early French settler, Charles Dause, who often used the phrase "La Grande" to describe the area's beauty. The population was 13,082 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Union County. La Grande lies east of the Blue Mountains and southeast of Pendleton.

History

Early settlement

The Grande Ronde Valley had long been a waypoint along the Oregon Trail. The first permanent settler in the La Grande area was Benjamin Brown in 1861. Not long after, the Leasey family and about twenty others settled there. The settlement was originally named after Ben Brown as Brown's Fort, Brown's Town, or Brownsville. There was already a Brownsville in Linn County, so when the post office was established in 1863, a more distinctive name was needed. It was decided to use "La Grande", a phrase used by a Frenchman, Charles Dause, to describe the area's scenic splendor. Before the post office was established, William Currey charged 50 cents a letter to carry the mail on horseback to and from the nearest post office, in Walla Walla, Washington. La Grande was incorporated as a city in 1865, and platted in 1868.

Grande Motte

Grande Motte is a mountain of Savoie, France. It lies in the Massif de la Vanoise range. It has an elevation of 3,653 metres above sea level.

One side of it is in the Tignes ski area. There is a cable car up to 3453 m.

Regional nature parks of France

A regional nature park or regional natural park (French: parc naturel régional or PNR) is a public establishment in France between local authorities and the French national government covering an inhabited rural area of outstanding beauty, in order to protect the scenery and heritage as well as setting up sustainable economic development in the area.

A PNR sets goals and guidelines for managed human habitation, sustainable economic development, and protection of the natural environment based on each park's unique landscape and heritage. The parks also foster ecological research programs and public education in the natural sciences.

As of 2014 there are 49 PNRs. These account for 15% of all French territory, over 7,000,000 hectares (17,000,000 acres). The parks encompass over 4,200 communes with more than three million inhabitants. The PNR system was created by a decree of March 1, 1967. The territory covered by each PNR is decided by the French Prime Minister and is reexamined every 12 years.

Parc naturel régional de Camargue

Parc naturel régional de Carmague (PNRC), or Regional Nature Park of the Camargue, is a protected area which was designated in 1970 along the shoreline of the Camargue, France. The park protects a wetland environment and an adjacent marine area. The boundaries of the park have been expanded to include a lagoon called the Étang de Vaccarès.

The Camargue is also the site of a national nature reserve, and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and a biosphere reserve.

Twinning

The park is twinned with a Spanish wetland, the Doñana National Park at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. The two parks share a number of characteristics including significance for bird-life and semi-feral horses, and proximity to a pilgrimage site (Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and the Hermitage of El Rocío). The site was formally twinned with the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Ramsar site by an agreement between the governments of Romania and France, 1992. Ramsar site no. 521.