The Païolive Association

This association was founded in 2004 in Les Vans (Ardèche), to study, promote and protect the site of Païolive and Gras in every sense : a massive limestone plateau ranging from the Upper Jurassic to the Berriasian and well delimited by structural faults integrating the Claysse synclinal to the south.

This set of more than 15,000ha presents, in addition to this geological unit, an ecological and cultural unit. This is why it is considered as an eco-complex uniting five ecosystems : forest, rock, garrigue, aquatic and underground.

Many studies in all disciplines are carried out on the site. It is in particular one of the six sites in France where a general biodiversity inventory is carried out, thanks to which 5,000 species have already been identified.

This set unfortunately has no effective protection status and many environments are currently damaged, especially aquatic and rock ones. Its karstic character however naturally protects many hard-to-reach places and may be an asset for its safeguard in the future.

Many studies have already been carried out on epikarst and endokarst : inventories, maps, study of underground fauna, hydrogeology studies with publications like underground in Païolive in 2016.