Lozère

Lozère
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Lozère in France
Coordinates: 44°20′N 3°36′E / 44.333°N 3.6°E / 44.333; 3.6Coordinates: 44°20′N 3°36′E / 44.333°N 3.6°E / 44.333; 3.6
Country	France
Region	Languedoc-Roussillon
Prefecture	Mende
Subprefectures	Florac
Government
• President of the General Council	Jean-Paul Pourquier
Area1
• Total	5,167 km2 (1,995 sq mi)
Population (1999)
• Total	73,509
• Rank	100th
• Density	14/km2 (37/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	48
Arrondissements	2
Cantons	25
Communes	185
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Lozère (French pronunciation: [lɔzɛʁ]; Occitan: Losera), is a department in southeast France near the Massif Central, named after Mont Lozère.

History

Lozère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.

The Beast of Gévaudan was a creature that terrorized the general area of the former province of Gévaudan, with nearly identical borders to today's Lozère, in the Margeride Mountains, in the general timeframe of 1764 to 1767.

Pliny's Natural History praised the cheese of Lozère:

The kinds of cheese that are most esteemed at Rome, where the various good things of all nations are to be judged of by comparison, are those that come from the provinces of Nemausus, and more especially the villages there of Lesura and Gabalis; but its excellence is only very short-lived, and it must be eaten while it is fresh.

Geography

The geography of Lozère is complicated, covering four mountain ranges. In the north-west, the basalt plateau of Aubrac rises between 1,000 and 1,450m, with a cold humid climate influenced by the Atlantic. The north and north-east of the department contains the Margeride mountains, which are formed of granite, and have peaks between 1,000 and 1,550m. The climate here is also cold, but dryer than Aubrac, with less snow.

The Causses are a series of very dry calcium plateaus in the south-west, and the south-east contains the Cévennes, which include the highest point in the department, the granite Mont Lozère at 1,702m.

The department also contains numerous rivers, above and below ground, including the Tarn, whose source is on Mont Lozère, and which flows through the Gorges du Tarn in the Causses.

Administration and politics

Lozère is the northernmost part of the current Languedoc-Roussillon region and is surrounded by the departments of Cantal, Haute-Loire, Ardèche, Gard and Aveyron.

On the General Council of Lozère a majority is held by the right, with 16 councillors to the left's 9. The President of the Council is Jean-Paul Pourquier, who represents the canton of Massegros. Lozère elects two Deputies to the National Assembly and one Senator to the Palace of Luxembourg. Both deputies, as of 2012, represent the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) while the senator is an independent of the left.

Economy

Cereals field near Les Bondons, dominated by the hills called Puechs des Bondons.

The main activities are farming and tourism, even though there is barely any agricultural farming in Lozère due to poor soil quality. Most farms are cattle farms. The hardy Aubrac is the most commonly farmed cattle breed here.

The region has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in France, which may be attributed to the enforced long standing tradition whereby young people emigrate to cities such as Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier when they reach working age.

Land use

Lozère has a surface area of 5,167 km2. It is a rural department, with relatively little land taken up by roads and buildings. Overall the land use is divided as follows:

• Forest 43.81%
• Heath & other open land 31.19%
• Arable land 12.74%
• Fields 11.36%
• Roads and buildings 0.54%
• Rivers and ponds 0.36%

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Lozériens. Lozère is the least populated French department.

The low population density (14 inhabitant/km²) is thought to be due to the region's poor soils and to rural depopulation, which was particularly high in the region between 1850 and 1910.

In recent years, the department's population has increased slightly, as it is thought to offer a good quality of life, and due to improved transport networks. However, the population is older than the national average.

Tourism

Tourist activities include caving and a variety of sports, such as skiing and kayaking. Lozère contains a part of the Cévennes National Park. Lozère is considered one of the best areas in France for trout fishing. Rivers such as the Lot, Tarn and Truyère are particularly noted for their trout populations.

View over the cirque of Pougnadoire and Saint-Chély-du-Tarn village, in the Tarn Gorges

See also

• Cantons of the Lozère department
• Communes of the Lozère department
• Arrondissements of the Lozère department

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Lozère

• (English) Tourism in Lozère - Official site : Gorges du Tarn, Aubrac, Margeride, Cévennes...
• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) Conseil Général website
• (English) Lozère on netrando.com