The Ponds

Development works done these last years have allowed to optimise management of water based on deepening drainage ditches, cleaning pond water intakes and by the digging of drainage ditches over the whole of the water bassin and the domain, even cutting crest lines. Uphill, due to a particular topology, the water drained from 6 ha can be oriented at will toward Riquet, Boufflers, or Praillebard ponds (Chalaronne basin) or toward Page pond (Formans basin).

The plateau within the fenced park, uphill from 2 water basins on which stand 100 ha of forest belonging to the Foundation, garantees a water supply free of agricultural residues, but also of all contaminations which in most Dombes ponds, can originate from uphill ponds.

The Praillebard pond recreated in December 1999 was chosen in 2006 by the Water Agency as reference pond for the Dombes (similar to the Grand Glareins pond) and thus beneficits from a regular monitoring of water and sediments quality. The same is true for two other ponds of the Foundation that from 2005 to 2015 were seasonnally monitored for water and sediments physicochemical properties, and for algal and benthic invertebrates biomass. These works were done in partnership with ISARA with financial support from the Water Agency for the first few years, a moment with support from the General Council of the Ain and now paid only by the Foundation.

Finally, since 2005, the aquatique vegetation of the 4 ponds is monitored annually by a specialised study bureau thus permetting to follow the ecological evolution of the Domain.

The whole of these monitorings should permit to better understand the pond ecosystem and to draw conclusions on the impact of different management regimes on biodiversity of each of the ponds.