Human Impact on the Environment in the Annecy Petit Lac Catchment, Haute-Savoie: A Documentary Approach

Abstract

It is axiomatic that mountain environments are particularly vulnerable to changes in patterns of human use, over both long and medium terms, but also over quite short periods of critical activity. This paper uses archaeological and documentary records to look at the human impact on one such montane environment, the pre-alps of Savoy, over the long-term, from pre-history up to the pre-modern period. The use and modification of landscape is estimated at the level of the Annecy Petit Lac hydrological catchment taking into account spatial differences in land use in the uplands, mid-slope and plain. Land use patterns and nutrient balance are reconstructed for specific periods in time between 1561 and 1892. Results from this study demonstrate that seven main phases of human activity have left their traces in the environmental record during the historical period through to the pre-modern period. Of these the 1730-1770s and 1840-1860s stand out as two discernible periods of heightened environmental pressures at higher altitudes, which manifest themselves as discernable lowland environmental problems, such as flooding, increased erosion and declining soil fertility.

Detecting climatic signals in an anthropogenically disturbed catchment: The late-Holocene record from the Petit Lac d’Annecy, French Alps

“…The impact of land use change on geomorphic processes is already well established for this catchment (Dearing, 1979(Dearing, , 2001Higgitt et al, 1991;Thorndycraft et al, 1998;Crook et al, 2002Crook et al, , 2004Crook et al, , 2011Foster et al, 2003;Dearing et al, 2001;Noel et al, 2001) but previous studies have been unable to discern the impact of climate change in the lake sediment record. Here we analyze a new high-resolution dataset and apply a novel statistical approach to identify the impact of precipitation change in driving catchment dynamics during the late Holocene.…”

“…The Lac d'Annecy catchment has been permanently occupied since the Neolithic with only sporadic occupation prior to this (Crook et al, 2004;Della Casa, 2005). A progressive increase in human activity resulted in significant changes to the hydro-geomorphic system through a combination of land cover change and river channel/floodplain modifications (e.g.…”

“…A progressive increase in human activity resulted in significant changes to the hydro-geomorphic system through a combination of land cover change and river channel/floodplain modifications (e.g. Crook et al, 2004;Dearing et al, 2001). The initial phase of agricultural development spans the Bronze, Iron and Roman periods and is characterised by lowland crop production and forest clearance at both low and high altitude (Crook et al, 2004(Crook et al, , 2011.…”

Spatial and temporal controls on hydro-geomorphic processes in the French Prealps

“…Overall there were no obvious or simple causal links between forest cover change, climate anomalies and destructive flood events at the whole catchment scale in either the 18 th or 19 th century. In a subsequent study, Crook et al, (2004), used archeological and documentary records to reconstruct land-use patterns and nutrient balance in Montmin, an upland commune, at even finer scales for specific periods in time between AD 1561 and 1892. Previous studies by Siddle (1986Siddle ( , 1997 and Jones (1987) gave insight into the social fabric of the commune and the land use practices.…”

“…2C). Crook et al (2002Crook et al ( , 2004) investigated the nature of human impact on forest cover in the Petit Lac catchment and its link to flooding using local documentary sources for land use, flooding and climate. In contrast to the sediment studies, they identified the main period of large-scale, uniform and rapid deforestation in the catchment as the early 19 th century (Crook et al, 2002).…”