In action
Many of you walk the sandy slopes of the dune every year!
Did you know that the Grand Site receives nearly 2 million annual visitors? Tourism that is rewarding for the territory and its attractiveness but which can be a source of dysfunction and degradation (for the site, for its inhabitants and for the visitors themselves) if it is poorly organized and poorly accompanied.
Travel and in particular sustainable mobility and on a larger scale of the territory are at the heart of the challenges of public management. In concrete terms, the Grand Site, with its partners, is working to:
- Promote soft mobility by offering a different approach to the Dune: via the train then the Baïa Bus (Dune Express line in the summer season), by bike using the cycle paths that link the territory;
- Encourage visitors to environmentally friendly practices to discover the site in the summer season: come earlier or later in the day with real-time information and the installation of variable message signs upstream of the car park;
- Eliminate unauthorized parking to reduce significant damage to the forest, waste deposits, limit the fire risk and ensure public safety.
Better know to better protect
A geomorphological phenomenon in perpetual motion, a true natural archive, the Dune of Pilat constitutes a vast subject of study for the academic and scientific community. The Grand Site is made up of a multitude of habitats, environments and species that form a living ecosystem.
Alongside the manager, geologists, botanists, archaeologists, engineers ... find here an inexhaustible field of study and research. So much knowledge to pass on to everyone to become aware of the heritage value of this exceptional natural monument.
The environmental education and cultural mediation activities constitute a fundamental pillar aiming to make all audiences aware of the exceptional character of the Grand Site and the challenges linked to its preservation.
A team of women and men who work on a daily basis
The Syndicat Mixte de la Grande Dune du Pilat is a public establishment administered by a trade union committee made up of two representatives from each community.
New Aquitaine Regional Council
Incumbents: Sandrine Laffore and Nathalie Le Yondre
Substitutes: Michel Durrieu and Jérôme Guillem
Gironde Departmental Council
Incumbents: Karine Desmoulin and Cédric Pain
Substitutes: Pascale Got and Agnès Séjournet
City of La Teste de Buch
Incumbents: Patrick Davet and Eric Bernard
Substitutes: Brigitte Grondola and Gérard Sagnes
Whether you meet her or not when you come, the management team of the Grand Site, works daily to preserve and restore natural spaces, on the reception area but also all the properties of the Conservatoire du coastline: from the collection of (too) much waste to the installation of wooden ganivelles, from naturalist monitoring to the organization of environmental education activities, from welcoming visitors to the implementation of structuring projects , the missions are rich and vast!
In the summer season, this multidisciplinary team is supported by seasonal staff.
