Heritage / The Vercors Natural Park
Briefly
Autrans is part of the territory of Vercors Natural Regional Park.
Since October 1970 the Park was granted « Natural Regional Park » status. We recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.
It is one of the first Regional Parks of France to gain recognition for its rich natural heritage.
Within the region of the Park there are 68 different communities who are responsible for the protection of the natural habitat and maintain the balance between culture, development and the environment.
Statistics
Region : Rhône-Alpes
Departements : Isère and Drôme
Communities : 68 communities, representing a total of 32,300 inhabitants
Natural regions : 7
- Quatre-Montagnes,
- Coulmes,
- Vercors Drômois,
- Royans,
- Diois,
- Trièves,
- Gervanne.
Gateways : 3
Surface area of the Park : 1860 km² of which 1000 are forests
Altitude : from 180m to 2341m (Le Grand Veymont)
Agriculture : 700 working farms, representing 32,000 hectares of agricultural land
Accommodation capacity: 80,000 beds
- 105 holiday centres,
- 105 hotels,
- 61 ski chalet refuges,
- 45 campsites,
- 14 « Panda » gîtes,
- 2 ‘natural hotels’,
- 400 holiday apartments and Bed & Breakfast.
Sport and Leisure :
- 1,000kms of cross-country ski tracks,
- 90 alpine ski pistes,
- 78 ski lifts,
- 10 ski schools,
- 2,850kms of hiking trails,
- 1,200kms of MTB tracks,
- 800kms of horse riding tracks.
Professionnals : 120 mountain guides.
It is also the largest natural reserve in France : « la Réserve Naturelle de Hauts Plateaux du Vercors » (17 000 hectares). This large extensive region is a sanctuary for flora : 1800 species of which 80 are protected and 60 species of orchids. The wildlife includes 135 nesting bird species and a wild vulture colony, 65 species of mammals and 6 species of wild hooved animals.
