"On Saint Catherine's Day, everything takes root".
On the former industrial site on avenue Van Pelt in Lens (62), children from the Emile Basly school planted around a hundred trees. These trees will be the first to form the future urban forest. This renaturation and awareness-raising initiative is part of the Festival de l’Arbre, organized by Lens town council and EPF Hauts-de-France. This event is a symbol of the transformation of this wasteland into an urban forest.
Renaturalizing a wasteland to create the future urban forest
The rehabilitation of the former Van Pelt industrial site, managed by the EPF des Hauts-de-France, is taking shape.
The common goal is to create an urban forest. Over 8,000 trees will be planted, including oaks, beeches, alders and maples. Some trees will be relocated from a neighboring plot, to ensure very local species management and better tree recovery. This diversity will create a wide variety of forest environments. The aim is to provide the Lens-Liévin conurbation with a new biodiversity area to complement the “Chaine des Grands Parcs”.
ECT is the operator responsible for creating this “heart of nature” by adding soil. The materials used are inert earth from local construction sites. Land traceability is a major challenge. The expertise of ECT’s services ensures the analysis, characterization and traceability of materials from the excavation site to the receiving site.
