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French wilderness at stake in bitter Alps trekking war

High in the French Alps, above Nice and the southern ski resorts, an elderly shepherd is allowed to stay in the rubble ruins of an old army barracks while his sheep graze on the mountainside in the warmer months. An eagle floats regally above a nearby peak. This is the top of the Mercantour national park, a deserted mountainous area that is one of France’s last patches of near wilderness — and so well kept a secret that wolves have crossed over the nearby Italian border and started to breed again.

But its serene mix of peaks and lakes has now become the backdrop for a bitter row over rambling. Plans for a 20 million euro (US$26.9 million) footpath and plush lodges, which would catapult the Mercantour from a little-known corner of the Alps to a beacon of international rambling “prestige,” has sparked controversy. Local politicians and park leaders are scrambling to contain the trekking wars.

On one side is one of France’s most debonair political figures, Christian Estrosi, a former motorbike champion. As well as being mayor of Nice, he is an member of parliament and the head of the Alpes Martimes region. Dubbed “Sarko boy,” Estrosi is a friend and lieutenant of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and shares his belief that trendy policies and glitz are crucial. He appeared at Nice’s main hospital to congratulate actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the birth of their twins.

Having served twice as a minister alongside Sarkozy, Estrosi is determined to use his recent election in Nice to boost France’s fifth-biggest city. He knows that a city with one of the biggest urban votes for Sarkozy has sway among the national center-right ruling party.

So while his president is pushing a new green agenda, Estrosi has decided to not only plot Nice’s battle to become France’s greenest city, but to include the nearby mountains in his plans.

The Mercantour, which straddles the Italian border and is barely an hour and a half’s drive from Nice, has the richest diversity of flora and fauna in France. Estrosi’s dream is to turn the French side of the park into a center of “international prestige trekking” that would rival the Mont Blanc circuit. But he did not count on the outrage that the plans to renovate paths and build state-of-the-art accommodation for the 140km route would produce. An assorted group of walkers, mountain climbers, forest workers and Alpine bloggers have declared war, opening a debate on ramblers’ obligations to the environment.
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