The Awakening of the Marshes

When the torrents swell and overflow their banks, when the Isère river rises, the marshes awaken… As the water level climbs, everyone adapts.

From the tiniest amphibian to birds, plants and trees, each has developed a strategy to cope with flooding in its habitat or cleverly take advantage of these fluctuations.

People are asked to be careful and avoid any risk linked to rising waters! Moving water can be very fast and, most of the time, unpredictable. It responds to the needs of the hydroelectric network and can occur at any time of day or night, even in fine weather or during drought.

The energy of the marshes—a very fluctuating story

The former marshes, once stagnant or in flood, have undergone transformations that turned them into marshes brimming with energy!
About 12,000 years ago… The basin of the Marais Park was carved out by the confluence of four glaciers. As they melted, they formed a lake, gradually infilled by the alluvial deposits of the Versoyen and Charbonnet torrents. These deposits slowed the flow of the Isère and created a kind of natural dam, conducive to the formation of marshes.
From the 1950s onward, the power of the Isère’s water was harnessed to produce the foremost renewable energy: hydroelectricity—then called “white coal”. The marshes were redeveloped.
Construction of the compensation basin was launched to absorb variations in the Isère’s flow for the proper operation of the Malgovert power plant, inaugurated in 1953.
Although the works changed the marshes’ wild appearance, other natural habitats emerged, such as the reed bed. Today, the site is the most important wetland area in Haute-Tarentaise and serves as a crucial stopover and nesting site for birds.