Through its varied fauna and flora, a mosaic of landscapes is there to be discovered.
In the shade of the forest
The “Cœur du Bassin d’Arcachon” (Heart of the Bay of Arcachon) is nestled in one of the largest forests in Western Europe planted by man: the Landes de Gascogne Forest.
At the heart of this green lung, you can hike or cycle along the many marked trails and cycle paths. Try “forest bathing” for a total connection to nature, or descend the Leyre Delta in a canoe.
Soothing and rejuvenating, the Landes de Gascogne Forest offers many benefits and stretches from Lanton to Marcheprime via Audenge, Biganos and Mios.
The maritime pine forest
The tunnel forest is an intimate, secret landscape.
Originally, the presence of these trees was not natural. Planted under Napoleon III, the maritime pines were used to fix the moving dunes along the coast and improve the marshy soils. Subsequently, the forest was used for harvesting resin. This ancestral method, which involves extracting the sap from pines, persists today thanks to improved tools and production methods. The forest is now home to remarkable biodiversity, and the timber industry is one of the region’s major economic resources.
Follow Jean-Claude for a demonstration of tapping in Lanton!
The tunnel forest
The tunnel forest owes its name to the branches of the trees which, meeting above the watercourse, form a sort of tunnel. The tunnel forest consists mainly of alders, oaks, beeches, hornbeams, willows, robinias, hazelnuts and hawthorns. Along the banks, you’ll find ferns typical of wetlands, as well as royal fern, marsh iris, hart’s tongue fern, liverwort and orchids.
The Dragonfly Zone
The Dragonfly Zone is an area of biological freedom and combatting emerging pollutants. Its aims is to create a biodiversity zone helping to eliminate residual micropollutants from wastewater before being discharged into nature. The dragonfly zone of the town of Mios helps to infiltrate and evaporate all effluents, and so avoid direct discharges into the Leyre River.