Ecological survey of the site of Mazingarbe

The Établissement Public Foncier  (the public land management institution) of the Nord-Pas de Calais region wanted to have natural inventories at its disposal for its spoil heap site 49 (6.1 hectares) in Mazingarbe in order to ascertain if any heritage or protected species and habitats might be found there.  That conical spoil heap is remarkable in that the whole site is full of graminaceous plants (Calamagrostis epigejos).  An arborescent belt surrounds the foot of the spoil heap, together with a considerable population of giant hogweed (invasive).  There are two former ponds, difficult to detect, at the foot of the spoil heap’s northern slope.

In addition, the inventories had to enable the ecological potential of the site and its sensitivity level to be assessed.  Depending on the results obtained, the areas that show a very rich heritage or where significant ecological rehabilitation or renaturing work could be carried out may later be the subject of additional inventories.

We therefore had the mission of completing some basic field inventories to identify the main plant and animal species found on the site and especially the species that are protected on a European, national and regional level, as well as heritage species.  Biotope then estimated the site’s sensitivity and value level.  Those analyses were then used to formulate some recommendations about the ecological management and rehabilitation work to be envisaged to conserve and develop the site’s biodiversity.