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Estuaries of the World
Charly Machemehl
Olivier Sirost
Jean-Paul Ducrotoy Editors
Reclaiming and
Rewilding River
Cities for Outdoor
Recreation
Series Editor
Jean-Paul Ducrotoy, The University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom
Estuaries are amongst the most endangered areas in the world. Pollution, eutrophication,
urbanization, land reclamation; over fishing and exploitation continuously threaten their future.
The major challenge that humans face today is managing their use, so that future generations
can also enjoy the fantastic visual, cultural and edible products that they provide. Such an
approach presupposes that all users of the environment share views and are able to communi-
cate wisely on the basis of robust science. The need for robust science is pressing. Over the last
decade there have been numerous advances in both understanding and approach to estuaries
and more and more multidisciplinary studies are now available. The available scientific
information has come from a multiplicity of case studies and projects local and national levels.
Regional and global programs have been developed; some are being implemented and some are
in evolution. However, despite the rapidly increasing knowledge about estuarine ecosystems,
crucial questions on the causes of variability and the effects of global change are still poorly
understood. Although the perception of politicians and managers of coasts is slowly shifting
from a mainly short-term economic approach towards a long-term economic – ecological
perspective, there is a need to make existing scientific information much more manageable
by non-specialists, without compromising the quality of the information. The book series
includes volumes of selected invited papers and is intended for researchers, practitioners,
undergraduate and graduate students in all disciplines who are dealing with complex problems
and looking for cutting-edge research as well as methodological tools to set up truly transversal
science and technology projects, such as the restoration of damaged habitats.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11705

Charly Machemehl • Olivier Sirost •
Jean-Paul Ducrotoy
Editors
Reclaiming and Rewilding

River Cities for Outdoor
Recreation
Editors
Charly Machemehl Olivier Sirost
University of Rouen University of Rouen
Mont Saint Aignan Cedex, France Mont Saint Aignan Cedex, France
Jean-Paul Ducrotoy
Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies
The University of Hull
Hull, UK
ISSN 2214-1553 ISSN 2214-1561 (electronic)

ISBN 978-3-030-48708-9 ISBN 978-3-030-48709-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48709-6
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
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imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and
regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to
be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty,
expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been
made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Contents
Introduction: Reclaiming and Rewilding River Cities for Outdoor Recreation . . . . . 1

Charly Machemehl, Olivier Sirost, and Jean-Paul Ducrotoy
Cities and Their Waterways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Christian Lévêque
With Rivers to the Sea: Ecological Restoration of Rivers and Estuaries
and Nature-Based Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Jean-Paul Ducrotoy
Behind Good Ecological Status, the Quest to Reconquer Water Territories . . . . . . . 29
Olivier Sirost and Charly Machemehl
Planning and Designing Facilities that Enhance Rivers and Encourage
the Development of Tourist and Recreational Spaces: Urban Promenades . . . . . . . . 39
Sylvie Miaux and Maxime Demers-Renaud
Outdoor Leisure Activities at Odds with the City? Arcachon Bay and the
Massif Des Calanques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Ludovic Ginelli
“On the Conquest of Wild Nature”... But What Is Meant by “Nature”? . . . . . . . . . 55
Sarah-Jane Krieger
The Darsena di Milano (Italy): ‘Restoration’ of an Urban Artificial Aquatic
Environment Between Citizens’ Hopes and Municipal Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Laura Verdelli and Noémie Humbert
Grenoble, the River City Facing the Mountains (End Nineteenth
Century-1930s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Michaël Attali and Natalia Bazoge
The Role and Significance of the Recreational Reconquest of Port Spaces:
Rouen (France) Reinvention at the Neck of the Estuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Damien Féménias, Olivier Sirost, and Barbara Evrard
Recreational Activities, Economic and Territorial Development: Caen (France)
in the Reconquest of its River? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Sébastien Bourdin and Yann Rivoallan
Bordeaux’s Playful and Sporty Maritime Life: A Revolution of Venues and
Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Jean-Pierre Augustin
v
Introduction: Reclaiming and Rewilding River
Cities for Outdoor Recreation
Charly Machemehl, Olivier Sirost, and Jean-Paul Ducrotoy
Keywords But already we note that the hygienist project of exiting city
Urbanisation · Estuaries · Ecological restoration · Outdoor centres towards the outskirts is not exclusively urbaphobic
recreation (Baubérot and Bourillon 2009). A whole sociology on the
rewilding of urban centres for the Homo ludens of the nascent
twentieth century came into being. The grass covering the
tarmacadam described by Walter Benjamin to designate the
The concept of utilitarian nature has a long history, similar in urban promenade, the erogenisation of the urban as a sensory
scope to that of Homo sapiens (Lévêque and Mounolou experience as per Georg Simmel or yet again the turf playing
2008). The development of agriculture and the domestication field analysed by Jane Addams in Chicago tell us of the
of farmed species (deemed “useful”) bear witness to this. In a underground natural part of global metropolises. In the
global anthropocentric system of nature management that wake of such changes, the edges of the water became land-
was instituted between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, scape and adventure playground. Frédéric Delaive showed
the place of river towns quickly became central, as mentioned that eighteenth century romantics gushed forth about amo-
by Jean Brunhes in his human geography. Human societies rous boating. In the second half of the nineteenth century
are known to develop their own perception of nature. Nowa- boating became increasingly sportive with the development
days, the village and its gardened extensions have become of nautical companies, canoes, rowing boats, then kayaks and
planetary, as we are reminded by Georges Guille-Escuret motorboats that animate the urban landscape. The animation
(1989) and Gilles Clément (2006). was not only sporty, but also focused on a bourgeois local
In the context of anthropological exploration, the nine- hygienism with landscaping and gardening on towpaths,
teenth century discovered that some societies collected things rambling and cycling on reserved paths, bathing
from the wild (through hunting, fishing and gathering) for establishments, riverside dance-cafés that inspired bucolic
pleasure, as Lucien Febvre mentions in his summary. At the literature (Proust, Maupassant and Flaubert). These new
same time, folklore surveys conducted in Western Europe endeavours fostered the development of the impressionist
(Van Gennep 1981) show that rural occupations based on the school to whom “luncheon on the grass” became the flagship
exploitation of flora and fauna are disappearing, leaving theme of these rivers reclaimed for leisure pursuits. The elites
space, in the same range of activities and calendar rituals, enjoyed the private use of dedicated pontoons, boat garages,
for leisure pursuits. Picnics on the grass, pleasure trips, gardens and cottages, which became an integral part of the
extended by camping play a large part in these dynamics. family “domus”, as testified by the building of villas on the
very edge of the river, that offered an urban holiday. For the
popular classes, the magazine Au bord de l’eau (started by
With support from GIP Seine-aval, FR SCALE CNRS. T. Burnand) and enthusiasm for line fishing showed a sub-
stantial appropriation of the river town. Beyond harvesting
C. Machemehl (*) · O. Sirost
CETAPS EA 3832, Université de Rouen, Normandie Université, Mont
and picking wild plants and animals, a sociability of
Saint Aignan Cedex, France collecting emerged, together with apéritif drinks and deca-
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] dent daytime napping that still imprints the imagery of out-
J.-P. Ducrotoy door leisure. Between the wars, two worlds rubbed shoulders
Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies, The University of Hull, Hull, in manufacturing the water city: the social elites who trans-
UK posed the idyllic life of the romantic landscape onto the city
e-mail: [email protected]
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 1

C. Machemehl et al. (eds.), Reclaiming and Rewilding River Cities for Outdoor Recreation, Estuaries of the World,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48709-6_1
2 C. Machemehl et al.
(for example, the Bois de Vincennes on the edges of the The scientific ecology underpinning such an approach was
Marne, as S. Beaudouin showed), and the visiting population a young science that was only to gain its credentials in the
crowding in a densified habitat, inland from the river. How- second half of the twentieth century. For the scientific ecolo-
ever, the multiplication of nautical festivals and, at the other gist, the landscape comprised animal and plant communities
end of the social scale, hawkers and pedlars encouraged a distributed and interacting within a given geographic loca-
social mixity in leisure activities. tion: the ecosystem. Under this definition, the human dimen-
With the rise in political ecology (Moscovici 2002; sion is de facto integrated. For not only is it impossible to
Bozonnet and Jakubec 2000), plans to reclaim the towns consider a habitat without taking into account physical
expanded. Urban projects promoted social interaction in elements such as the relief of the land, the water cycle, etc.,
greened spaces. Prior to this, utopias such as garden cities, but it is also impossible to ignore the intervention of human
community gardens, eco-friendly farms, floating habitats and societies that changes the frequency and/or intensity of cer-
living homes (Willemin 2006, 2008) provided experience tain factors such as, for example, artificial lighting, not to
feedback that enabled the conception of urban regeneration. mention chemical pollution. The human activities that cause
In the experience of the Colonial Settlements in the United these unbalances result from sociopolitical choices based on
States, a community of interests emerged between social various models depending on the cultures that are intertwined
reformers and conservationists. The connections between from the local to the global. Like other living creatures,
Jane Addams’ Hull House, John Muir’s nature parks, Luther humans affect their environment and try to adapt to
Halsey Gulick’s YMCA recreational activities or the ethical it. Nowadays, the scale of perturbations and transformations
culture of Felix Adler led to a general policy of urban recla- imposed on ecosystems, and therefore on the landscapes we
mation combining wildness (national parks and wilderness perceive, is increasing (Ducrotoy 2010). In the vein of the
areas) and leisure playgrounds, urban parks. In England as in PIREN*1 or SAUM** programmes at the end of the 1970s,
Germany, outdoor movements and youth organisations pro- French environmental science research examined the social
posed the same continuous to and fro between town and demand for nature faced with the explosion of new towns and
country. extensive urban spread (Lévêque and Mounolou 2008). The
From the 1880s, the hygienists and engineers driving staggering progress of biology and the expansion of its
social reform saw the city as a living organism that escaped domain of investigation characterise this switch to nature
them and that the ecologists described as a parasite. After becoming worthy of the attention of the engineers. The first
much resistance, and despite the search for new uses, the experiments to try to recreate natural ecosystems were carried
urban excreta that had been contained for use by industry and out in the first half of the twentieth century by pioneers who
spread on the fields for agriculture were abandoned to the were the first to envisage an ecosystem as an entity (Leopold
rivers. Waterways running through towns became open 1949). There were multiple, complex reasons behind this
sewers into which all types of waste, sludge and other mineral revolution: a mixture of scientific and historical curiosity,
substances were dumped (Barles 2005). As early as the an aesthetic interest but also a certain nostalgia. From the
1950s, the American metropolises proposed a programme scientific point of view, respect for the old and established
of city greening while Germany continued to promote the cannot be eluded with the notion that a “climax community”
ideology of the urban garden. It was also during this period is ideally a preferential ecological combination of organisms
that industrial wasteland was born, with the endless cessation endowed with the distinctive qualities of stability, harmony
of industrial production. The obsolescence of the machines, and a capacity for self-organisation. The concern for what
along with the delocalisation of industries, created a no man’s was later to be called a “natural habitat” remained discreet
land in which the landscapers intuited a potential playground until the end of the twentieth century. The idea of recreating a
(Chaline 1999). The general public’s interest in this sensitiv- complete ecosystem or even an ecological community or a
ity to rewilding and reclaiming of the town centres for the landscape, with all its attributes and processes, was long
people for leisure would be amplified after the hippie com- considered utopian (Jordan and Lubick 2011). For the public,
munity experiences. These multiple threads of inheritance these developments gave rise to the opening up of spaces
shed new light on the green engineering of which France hitherto condemned, often insalubrious or, at least, spoilt and
would become of the cantors, with its young Ministry for degraded. The leisure society and its sports activities,
Nature Conservation and its decentralisation policies. From endowed with an arsenal of equipment, took them over as
then on the occasion for repairing the ecosystems, known as early as the 1970s and the term then used was “restoration”.
“restoration”, advanced hand in hand with the urban planning
projects, with the questioning of the dimension of ecological
resilience and that of services rendered by the ecosystems 1
*PIREN SEINE: Programme Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur l'eau
(Clewell and Aronson 2010). et l'environnement du bassin de la Seine **SAUM: Schéma d’Aptitude
et d’Utilisation de la Mer.
Introduction: Reclaiming and Rewilding River Cities for Outdoor Recreation 3
By way of ecological restoration, engineering offered appreciated for its landscape and aesthetic qualities that
three possibilities: restoration stricto sensu (historical trajec- made it the preferential setting for fun, recreational and
tory), rehabilitation (repair) and reassignment (new uses). hedonistic activities. The town was refashioned by the desire
In its simplest expression, the restoration of ecosystems for the shore (Corbin 1988). The restoration projects aimed at
can be defined as the set of initiatives taken to improve an the degraded habitats took back possession of the wasteland
ecosystem, enabling it to achieve a better status, whatever areas. Their purpose was to create a bond between river and
this may be (Livingston 2006). This definition does not imply town, which the population had been deprived of, in a context
a return to a previous state, but only concerns the of the development of the water and the massification of
re-establishing of certain ecological functions. A definition leisure activities. The river town was, in fact, a place where
now considered more standard mentions the procedures used new ways of living together and being a society were invented.
to re-establish, depending on the degradations caused by Placing an environmental restoration project in a scientific
human activities, a habitat or an ecosystem considered viable perspective implies the application of the fundamental
as much in its structure as in its functioning (Elliott et al. principles of ecology. However, due to the popularity of
2007). This is close to rehabilitation. In summary, restoring certain concepts such as biodiversity and biological produc-
an ecosystem would consist in re-establishing the functions tivity, the definition and use of the dedicated terms may be
lost by this ecosystem, or replacing certain functions consid- abused and mask the real issues involved in the development
ered superfluous. In a radical way, we could decide to replace in question (Ducrotoy and Yanagi 2008). For example, for
the affected estuary ecosystem (or certain habitats) by the general public and the politicians, biodiversity is the basis
another ecosystem that would fulfil the functions referred of robust and productive ecosystems, a fact that has never
to. This would involve reassignment of the territory been proven scientifically. Recently, Elliott and Quintino
concerned. The (re)-creation of habitats could, therefore, (2007) pointed out the paradox of the quality of the estuaries,
lead to opposite results. In the case of restoration, this could where a specific rudimentary richness supports a high level of
result in a system that has kept and even gained in estuarine production and assures the stability of a highly dynamic
characteristics; on the other hand, the river valley or estuary system.
would no longer exist as such (Ducrotoy 2018). Former harbour revitalisation projects were part of a
When deindustrialisation began, it posed the question of global movement that concerned just as much river as coastal
how to convert urban and port wastelands, and of a partner- towns (Chaline 1999). Baltimore in the Patapsco River estu-
ship between industry and the wild (Rosenzweig 2003). As ary and Boston in Massachusetts Bay were among the avant-
part of the collective utopia of well-being and quality of garde. Back in the sixties, these cities repurposed their har-
living spaces, the river city became an ideal model of a vast bour areas. The principle of mixed uses was given preference
undertaking to reclaim through leisure, combining the tech- over zoning and it favoured the introduction of leisure
nical questions of the rewilding of the environments. The facilities and activities. The waterfront took on a heritage
metropolises had to have their nature, which were conceived dimension, in particular through the conservation of the har-
of in terms of recreational services (Cronon 1991). bour past. A second stage was completed in the 1990s. To the
In the 1980s, the traditional activity of rivers, the transport urbanistic rationale oriented towards “the back of the water-
of goods and passengers, started to decline. A consequence of front”, therefore the revitalisation of the town centre,
economic upheavals, the port facilities (wharfs, access ramps, succeeded a rationale of “the front of the waterfront”, giving
cranes and docks), the road and railway networks were preference to the aquatic element (Vermeersch 1998). In this
transformed into wasteland (Chaline 1999; Collin 2001, second phase, greater importance was accorded to leisure
2007; Baudouin and Collin 1996). activities. In degraded ecosystems, it was at this time that
These vast industrial zones that had been the bases of the principle of use and public access to the space became
urban development became under-used and depreciated. obligatory and the landscaping of parks included land
Reoccupying them constituted a challenge for urban policies planning. In Europe, riverbank revitalisation and repurposing
and mobilised public and private stakeholders within the projects in Liverpool and London began in the 1980s,
scope of major projects (Bravard and Clémens 2008; Merle followed by Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Bilbao,
2009; Saunier 2011). From then on the landscaping Genoa and Rotterdam. In France, the process concerned
initiatives endorsed the social and economic transformations. Bordeaux, Lyons, Orléans, Paris, Rouen, Valence and
They enshrined the shift to a service-based labour economy Vienne. The decision to make the riverbanks accessible to
and also the essential place of leisure activities in our society the locals was shared by all the cities. It was expressed
(Dumazedier 1962; Corbin 1995). Thus, the landscape devel- through the development of public spaces in the form of
opment projects were part of wider projects aimed at the landscaped promenades, cycling tracks, playgrounds,
reclaiming of river areas by the population. Functional gardens and parks in proximity to the water and bounded
space that served as a navigation channel was now by the renovated, showcased quays (Lechner 2006).
In the river towns, leisure sports facilities were the princi- their basic ecological functions. The intertidal zones are the
pal means of re-appropriating the banks and habitats taken most vulnerable due to the land needs of the ports, industry
from the aquatic domain. Public policies and the reflections and agriculture. The neighbouring town where the players of
they stimulated sought to renew the bond between river, this occupation reside are most often outside the valley or the
estuary and the inhabitants. In addition to hotel and catering estuary (where the harbours and industries are located) but
facilities, shopping malls and boat coaches, the largest urban most frequently occupy fragile peripheral areas. The priority
centres endowed themselves with sports enclosures destined for restoring them must be recognised and must be subject to
for shows and sports, as well as marinas. Public spaces such a veritable consensus within the scope of an ecosystemic and
as promenades, gardens, parks and open sports facilities also interdisciplinary approach. Recent studies (Moussard et al.
occupied an important place. Even in the most modest towns, 2008) showed that in the estuaries of the Manche the basic
the landscaping of the riverbanks included the creation of functionality was still present, but was more or less failing.
pedestrian or cycle paths, riverside stopovers, playgrounds, The priority was to reconnect fragile functional links between
relaxation and picnic areas or signs pointing out remarkable the alluvial plain and the axis of the river in its minor bed,
architectural features or panoramas. Heritage buildings were leading to an improvement in the hydrological and biological
destined to maintain and promote water-related traditions processes. Such developments naturally had to be conceived
(fishing, shipyards, etc.) or to implement systems to protect of in a holistic spirit, incorporating restoration projects into
nature. Initiatives intended to bring the population closer to an overall development scheme for the river and its estuary,
the river became widespread. They included the rehabilita- projected over the long term. A long-term environment
tion of the landscape function of the urbanised river. The aim friendly vision based on a good knowledge of the past
was to reinvent a way of looking at water and a physical, histories of the sites concerned, can enable scenarios to be
experiential and sensory relation to water. built to promote local activities in harmony with the forced
The reclaiming of the shores and aquatic habitats changes to ecosystems in the face of contemporary climate
transformed or degraded by sports leisure activities, disruptions.
encouraged by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Fourthly, the image of the town is worked on through the
(2003), was a response to four principal challenges. The urban planning projects which, in a global economy, seek to
first concerned the spatial dynamics of the practices and capture the stream of tourists and especially capital by
forms of recreational appropriations. The introduction of endowing themselves with an appealing image. The tourism
sports and leisure facilities implies a reflexion on the distri- dimension is superimposed on projects primarily destined to
bution of space and how they overlap to satisfy functional adapting the functioning of the ecosystems to the marked
needs. While creating areas of freedom, landscaping induces changes in climate. The existing infrastructure and rigid
certain types of practices and encourages certain forms of administrative frameworks prevent the creation or restoration
sociability. Leisure time gradually became a part of urban of vast expanses of wild spaces in the more artificialised areas
rhythms. In the light of the reflection of Hans Jonas (1979), of the wetlands. However, suitable, diligent planning, com-
we may wonder about this landscaping policy based on mass bined with creative design could be successful. By forging a
consumption. Does it not, in the end, aim to satisfy needs that positive identity, in the era of communication, the cities were
are temporary and not essential? trying to play a positive role in the flows, but this urban
Secondly, the constitution of new living spaces implies the marketing used certain cultural, corporal and sports practices
building of a sustainable town. It renders necessary the as a foil and pushed others aside, creating the risk of a
depollution of the sites, landscaping compliant with the leg- homogenisation of cultures and lifestyles (Evrard et al. 2012).
islation and environmental standards. The link with nature is These four challenges are addressed in the chapters of this
made more evident thanks to the presence of the water and book. Their authors have discussed the issues according to
the rewilding of the former production and storage sites and which outdoor leisure pursuits define places and reconfigure
Non-places destined for transportation. The showcasing of urban territories, manufacturing the river town. Thus in “the
the natural heritage is also prone to raising the awareness of cities and their waterways” and by way of an introduction,
the general public to environmental issues (via nature Christian Lévêque proposes a genealogy of the urbanisation
reserves, museums, zoos and parks). Quality of life and of rivers via their development and uses. He describes several
well-being are also presented as the stated objectives of the movements. First of all, he explains how the locals make use
river towns. An extensive offer of leisure activities—enter- of the water through fisheries, mills, agriculture and the
tainment, fun, sports and culture—favours personal develop- exploitation of marshes are transmitted through folklore. A
ment under many facets—physical, psychological and social recreational and patrimonial tradition which today takes the
fabric. form of a new agenda of celebrations of nature in the cities.
Thirdly, for the development of outdoor activities, Then he shows how, in the course of the 1970s, the protection
wetlands and aquatic river and estuary milieus must recover of the cities from turbulent waters (floods, erosion, the
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transport of goods and passengers) turned towards the engi- Saragossa, the reflection examines the modes of production
neering of ecological restoration, showcasing the rehabilita- of the town, not only as a functional space but also as a
tion of the open sewers and the natural spaces that had been cultural one. Nature plays a special role here. Projects bring
considered lost for the population (islands, mudflats, banks, into play the accessibility, appeal and staging of nature that is
etc.). Finally, he shows how, in a movement of urban regen- envisaged, depending on the case, as a prop, to promote a site
eration, the city centres gravitate towards the edges of the or a town or, wild, a sensorial and experiential immersion.
water to be reclaimed, in particular, due to deindustrialisation In his contribution entitled “Outdoor leisure activities at
that left vast wasteland reoccupied by the citizens as odds with the city? Arcachon Bay and the Massif des
playgrounds. In these three instances, Christian Lévêque Calanques”, Ludovic Ginelli compares two meccas of nature
emphasises the impossible modus vivendi between ecologi- located on the edge of the city. On the basis of a survey of
cal restoration and urban regeneration which are conceived of users, clubs and managers of protected areas, he shows the
according to different spatial and time frames. discrepancies between the representations of the great out-
In his article, Jean-Paul Ducrotoy deals with the restora- doors and the experience of an environment permeable to the
tion of rivers and estuaries and nature-based activities posed influences of the town and its social issues. Sports leisure
as a departure point for re-thinking the necessary reconnec- activities deployed in the densified outskirts such as bow
tion of humans to their living environments. He offers a very hunting, underwater hunting and sea kayaking are caught
complete panorama of the environmental issues, from a com- up in a bundle of contradictions. They embody the liberty
parative study of several estuaries; sediment management to of the fusional experience of nature in contrast to urban
facilitate navigation (the Elbe), flood prevention and port enclosure. But more recently these sports have also become
access (the Escaut), hunting and the development of tourism the locus and subject of an eco-citizen debate and a naturalist
(the Somme) or compensating for the consequences of the participation involving the co-construction of a natural
extension of industry and harbours (the Seine). In the same protected area. While these practices may come up against a
way as the approaches through landscaping, sociology and sanctification of wild nature, they are more deeply a part of a
anthropology, he defines new perspectives on restoration and porosity that tries to go beyond the urban–rural division and
on envisaging the consequences for the environment, people sketch new ways of managing protected spaces.
and society. Ultimately, a committed text that warns of a way In a comparison of the Saint-Laurent estuary (Canada) and
of thinking and of devising public policies that are incapable the Gironde estuary (France), Sarah-Jane Krieger invites us to
of dynamically defining restoration projects centred on the examine the proposition: “On the conquest of wild nature . . .
human. He is essentially defending better sharing of power, but what is meant by ‘nature’?” From two quality surveys
which he believes can be achieved through the decentralisa- through interviews and observations requiring six months’
tion and consistency of European action, and makes political immersion, Sarah-Jane Krieger questions how devotees of
commitment a necessary condition for overcoming the crisis outdoor sports—sailing, riding, kayaking, rambling and
of the estuaries. The crisis could be favourably resolved on cycling—represent and experience areas of wild nature that
the condition that a sustainable bond is forged between peo- are subject to strong protection measures. Social-natural
ple and their waterways. objects such as islands, paths, wildlife observation points,
“Behind good ecological status, the quest to reconquer spots for gathering fruits and nuts, and wetlands reveal a
water territories”, the article by Olivier Sirost and Charly desire for the absence of human activity in which to recharge
Machemehl, is based on the comparison of the three French your batteries, and, at the same time, nurture an urban-phobia
Atlantic estuaries; the Seine, the Loire and the Gironde. The in speeches and political stances. But paradoxically these
authors underline the implications of good ecological status, immersive leisure activities are accompanied by increasingly
as defined by a European framework law, in these estuaries heavy developments that are accepted as long as their
which are highly distinctive in terms of spatial characteristics artefacts remain invisible or at the very least in harmony
and social expectations. The latter turns out to be decisive for with a mythical, original wildness. Without a doubt, we
an understanding of the paths to restoration that cannot be may read in these ways of introducing “wild beauties” into
separated from local social rationales. the urban environment, the object of symbolic and social
Sylvie Miaux and Maxime Demers-Renaud wonder about investment for the city dweller.
the manner in which the developers think and conceive river Laura Verdelli and Noémie Humbert take us into the
spaces with the aim of enhancing and developing areas for analysis of the interface between the city and the water via
recreational tourism. They show that urban promenades— their text: “La Darsena di Milano: ‘restoration’ of an artificial
physical, developed spaces—are redefined and mobilised in urban aquatic milieu between citizen hopes and municipal
the light of health and sustainable development values for plans”. This mutation, affecting saturated urban areas, has
building social bonds and instigating an active lifestyle. been accompanying European cities for around thirty years.
Based on case studies from Québec, Bordeaux and We can see in this a movement that draws its discourse and
actions from the return of nature in towns (the concept of other related to leisure and sports. Since the 1960s, this
urban green belt and blue belt is particularly eloquent in double usage and development of space have been
France), the safeguard of cultural but also “natural” heritage, accentuating in favour of the recreational. By analysing the
of the practice of sports, the development of outdoor leisure, landscaping of the quays, spaces dedicated to sports practices
and the promotion of a new “sustainable” image of the town. and the structures built for leisure activities, the geographer
Behind this culture of eco-responsibility and eco-citizenship shows how another meaning of space has grown through
heterogeneous transformations of space are being woven. time and raises awareness once again of the developments
There is indeed a common thread running through these of the past. Bordeaux has drawn on its economic and
points of view, committing the local players and the popula- industrial heritage to free access to the water and its edges.
tion, labelling the projects. . . But in the end, the case study of Here we can read the stylistic codes of the twenty-first
la Darsena in Milan primarily shows the inadequacy of a century city playing with the aesthetics—a new shared
green veneer. The deeper ecological debate is replaced by maritime phenomenon—of the water.
an eco-friendly landscaping supported by the expansion of
urban leisure activities.
Mickael Attali and Natalia Bazoge take a look at the case
of the Isère and the development of recreational activities References
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Cities and Their Waterways
Christian Lévêque
Summary Introduction
Waterways have played a significant role in our economic
development. The navigation of waterways for the trans- Water is to the urban what land is to the rural. (Guillerme 1990a)
portation of passengers and freight was very active from Relations between towns and rivers have always been agitated.
antiquity till the beginning of the twentieth century. Much While waterways have frequently, throughout history,
landscaping was done to facilitate the activity: levelling of conditioned the prosperity and growth of towns, river spates
thresholds, canals, locks and millstreams, etc. Cities and have always been a major constraint to which they have adapted
more or less successfully. (Bravard 2004)
their ports grew up around strategic points. Waterways
also provided craftsmen, then nascent industry with the The development of numerous urban centres is closely
engine power necessary for their activities, which was at associated with the waterways (Lévêque 2016, 2019;
the same time the source of much pollution. Gradually Beauchêne 2006). In addition to the supply of water, rivers
these uses regressed to make way for other, recreational enabled the transport of everything the town needed: wood
uses in the nineteenth century such as boating, bathing and for heating, coal, foodstuffs, building materials, and indus-
riverside dance cafés. The rise in awareness about the trial materials. “Without the Seine, Oise, Marne and Yonne,
environment after World War II led to waterway Paris would not be able to eat, drink or even heat itself
ecosystems being given more consideration, in particular comfortably” wrote Fernand Braudel. Not counting the
with, the fight against pollution and so-called restoration driving force of water, which was long the main source of
operations. In certain towns, the ports and industrial sites energy for craftsmen and nascent industry. We could also add
were redeveloped into spaces for recreation and entertain- that the river was a convenient way to evacuate all the waste
ment, with operations which, under the guise of restora- produced by the city. . . When waterways traverse the city,
tion, in reality created new business areas. City dwellers they are therefore once a resource, a tool and a threat during
who sometimes dream of “wild rivers” are actually spates. By the activities it generates, and the dangers it
attached to these places steeped in history, which have creates, the waterway structures the town. Along the water-
witnessed the activities of the past, the memories of which front, warehouses and other harbour activities grow up. On
are revived in folk events. A new urban identity is arising, the edges live those who work at the port, whereas the homes
anchored in the valorisation of a heritage with consider- of the wealthy are situated farther away, often higher up. The
able identity value. A process that sometimes opposes the result is cities split between the “top of the town” sheltered
naturalist ecological restoration projects. from rising waters and the nuisances of the port, and a “lower
town” with its “lower districts” sometimes prone to flooding,
Keywords home to a poor population, and a place of productive
activities.
Uses of waterways · Recreational areas · Landscaping ·
Before the French Revolution, the river was a place of
River heritage · Reconquer the banks
intense activity. In addition to commercial traffic, fish was
caught there and kept and commercialised in the ponds;
clothes were washed in large laundry boats; horses were
taken to drink and to bathe. And so lots of minor trades
C. Lévêque (*) lived directly off the river: smugglers and small boats,
Directeur de recherche émérite, Institut de Recherche pour le
Développement, Ville d’Avray, France water carriers, washers and carders of mattresses, boat

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48709-6_2
10 C. Lévêque
scrappers, labourers carrying coal, “hookers” carrying wood as it arrived. The banks were cluttered with tethered boats for
for burning. These men and women in their hundreds were trading (charcoal, wood, wine and fruit), and there were lots
the people of the river, the water people. of boats waiting in the nearby riverside villages, tethered
along the banks, before docking in one of the Parisian
ports. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
Navigation and Ports due to the increase in traffic and the development of industrial
activities, the ports moved further away from the city centres
One of the main uses of waterways has been put to is to reduce the disturbance they caused.
navigation. When overland routes were rare and unsafe, The history of a port is the reflection of a stratification of
rivers were preferential channels for the circulation of people uses that have evolved in accordance with commercial and
and goods. Commercial exchanges have existed since Antiq- industrial activities, the progress in navigation and in the
uity, whether for raw materials or local produce, such as, for means of communication. When these activities disappear,
example, the Italian wine that was imported via the Rhône for the port collapses. . . This is what happened at the end of the
the consumption of the Gauls, or the wine produced in the nineteenth century, when the railways, then the road system,
Loire Valley and exported to northern Europe. These “roads replaced river transport.
which move” as described by Pascal were traversed by all
kinds of craft. The development of river navigation was a real
strategic challenge for the national economy from the age of The Development of the Waterways
the Gauls up until the advent of the railways in the nineteenth for Navigation
century. It is hard to imagine the bustling life of the ports in
the old days, especially in the cities that had to be supplied Navigation faced major difficulties (Barrier 1990, Berthier
continuously... At that time, inland navigation and river trad- 2009):
ing occupied a large population, and required the upkeep of a
considerable cavalry for the towing of the boats (Le Sueur • The draught of the boats. Over time, the size of the vessels
2012). increased, requiring greater flow depths, which led to the
The Kings of France had understood the strategic impor- deepening of the riverbed, for example a phenomenon still
tance of river navigation, which is why they gradually with us today. But in the towns, the river was contained in
brought this sector of activity under their authority. A Capit- order to narrow the bed and increase the flow speed, which
ulary of Charlemagne placed the navigable rivers and contributed to further deepening the bed. Then in the
tributaries under the authority of the Emperor. Subse- nineteenth century, stones were used on the banks to
quently, the power of the monarchy became stronger and prevent erosion and to facilitate the landing of boats.
was extended, with all activities undertaken on the • “Water idleness”, that is to say the period during which
waterways requiring authorisation from the King. As a navigation was not possible, was a severe obstacle to
result, the installation of mills and fisheries was subject to trade. The economic apparatus of the city was closely
authorisation to avoid obstructing the flow. The purpose of dependent on the rhythm of the flow of the waterways,
the royal custodianship was therefore to ensure free circula- which turned the mills and decided whether boats could
tion of people and goods within the kingdom, which was pass. The difficulties facing navigation at certain times of
indispensable to economic development. Here, already, we the year posed considerable problems for the supply of the
find the idea that prevailed with the railways: ensure the towns. Large scale development work was undertaken to
circulation of production to connect the provinces and remedy this, including the correction of routes and deep-
encourage trade. ening of the channel, containment of the bed, the creation
The port is a developed space destined for the loading and of dams and locks, etc. These developments, which
unloading of goods and the embarking and disembarking of changed our waterways profoundly, are still present,
passengers. Situated in the heart of the town, the port was the despite a real antipathy for river transport. The river tour-
nerve centre of urban life. It is the centre of many water ism that subsequently developed remained modest com-
trades, inland navigation and all the port activities. Of course, pared to the investments accorded it. Nonetheless, this
the towpaths ran through the cities with their processions of developed environment is part of our heritage.
horses. Water coaches transported passengers from town to • Reloading. While boats were built to sail as far as possible
town. Between the sixteenth and the beginning of the nine- up the waterways, the fact still remained that at certain
teenth centuries, all the representations of the river banks in times goods had to be unloaded and transhipped by land to
major towns, on prints and paintings, testify to this intense the next waterway. As early as the seventeenth century,
activity. numerous canals were built to connect the river basins.
Until the eighteenth century, there were no storage areas in The Briare Canal (1642), for example connected the
the Parisian ports, as the merchandise was sold on gradually Rhône basin to that of the Seine. The Loire and the
Cities and Their Waterways 11
Rhône were connected by the building of the Canal du Throughout the 19th century, State intervention played an essen-
Centre in 1792. Currently, there is a whole network of tial role which removed all sociability from the water by confin-
ing it between walls and restricting access to it. (. . .) The river is a
canals connecting the various river basins. They are much place of transit, transportation, trade, meetings, and also of pros-
used for river tourism (Miquel 1994). titution. It is a lively place which is beyond the control of society
and the economy. The State, on the pretext of combating
In the second half of the nineteenth century, inland navi- flooding, removed the shingle shore in Paris, and replaced it
with upper and lower quays, veritable military installations that
gation regressed rapidly in the face of the railways. All that cut the river off from the town, and enabled the taxing of
remained was, for a short time, the transport of passengers commerce. (Guillerme quoted by Lechner 2006)
and some goods in town centres. The unused banks became
abandoned wasteland and ill-frequented. . . And there were several attempts to capitalise on the feed-
back of experience from the past to anchor current protection
policies. But paradoxically, land ownership pressure tended
Cities and Flooding to obscure the negative consequences of the flooding in
numerous places. Perhaps people hoped that these events
Another factor that contributed to distancing the town from would not recur in the near future? Perhaps there was a
the waterways was flood prevention. In the nineteenth cen- lapse of memory in citizens who had not been confronted
tury, there were extreme flooding events that lingered in the with the problem in the absence of a recent disaster? The fact
memory. remains that there is still a strong temptation to build in flood-
The flood protection system we know today was largely prone areas.
inherited from the policies implemented in the past, the
history of which allows us to trace the thread of the changes
that occurred in the river landscapes. The multiple The Era of Productivist Industrialisation: The
developments, when we think about them, were a kind of Landscaped River
DIY, with frequent adjustments, like the dykes that were
continually being built up further in the course of the nine- In the nineteenth century, technical resources improved con-
teenth century in step with recurring contingencies. Still, siderably and several phenomena contributed to profoundly
these developments, often carried out jointly with those nec- altering the relationship between town and waterway. First of
essary for navigation, led to the increasing artificialisation of all, the design of the suspension bridge made it possible to
the river system: waterway straightened, banks concreted, multiply the points of passage, enabling easier liaison
bed deepened, etc. between the two banks of a town. Between 1827 and 1853,
Following the disastrous spates of the nineteenth century eight of these structures were built on the Saône at Lyon.
on the Garonne, the Loire and the Rhône, the defence against Fifteen bridges were built in Paris in 1870, a greater number
floodwaters was the reason for some of the more structural than during all the previous centuries. And the design of
urban developments, such as quays to replace dykes, and metal bridges enabled the construction of viaducts for rail
serve first of all as ramparts against floods (Porhel 2012). transport. So many realizations that would contribute to the
The quays in stone improved the conditions of transportation growth in rail and road transport to the detriment of river
and unloading, but surrounded and channelled the river, navigation, which began an irremediable decline despite the
which lost its wild natural aspect. The quays replaced the arrival of steam power.
shingle shores and the banks that up until then had been used But due to the economic conditions, industry took over the
for a number of activities. In many towns, channelling the banks, as much for reasons of access to transport as for
river went along with the building of a system of upper quays supplying their boilers and rejecting their waste, which
on which the circulation routes were established, and, down aggravated river pollution and usage conflicts. In medieval
below, of lower quays which long served for goods handling times the river already attracted skinners, tanners,
and haulage. The rise in land transport at the beginning of the papermakers, launderers, butchers, dyers. . . whose activities
twentieth century gradually led to the banks being occupied used a lot of water and at the same time were sources of
by the railway and road infrastructures. Symbolically, the pollution. For convenience, the waste was discharged directly
quays isolated the river from the town. Access to the water into the current, causing conflicts with those who needed safe
was no longer direct; you now had to go down to the lower water for their activities, and the residents who were looking
quay to reach the water. The disappearance of the houses for clean water for domestic use. In the nineteenth century,
along the edge of the river further accentuated this distancing the rampant industrialisation stimulated the development of
of the waterways. vast industrial and logistics strangleholds in the major cities
12 C. Lévêque
which contributed to further isolating the urban fabric from Bathing

the river, which had gradually become a place that was not
very welcoming for the townspeople. And, to feed the indus- In the seventeenth century, the Parisians bathed in the Seine
trial ogre which devoured coal and raw materials, the locks in large numbers, in spite of the filth it could carry around. In
were widened and the channels deepened to allow the navi- the eighteenth century, the first bathing establishments
gation of increasingly large boats. And as room was needed appeared along the banks of the Seine in and around Paris.
for these new activities, ports grew up outside of the towns. Places for bathing quickly improved in the nineteenth century
Furthermore, and for a variety of reasons (the develop- to offer more comfort (individual changing rooms, towel and
ment of hydroelectric power, the supply of the waterways bathing costume hire, etc.), or with recreational facilities
when levels were low, or for fighting floods, irrigation of (beaches, chutes and diving boards). At the end of the nine-
agricultural land, etc.) large numbers of dams were built from teenth century the first swimming schools appeared and the
the end of the nineteenth century. Fairly quickly, the “small number of establishments on the river banks multiplied to
inland seas” they created were put to use for boating and meet the nascent demand for outdoor sports. Along the banks
bathing. of the Seine, the Marne and the Oise, Île-de-France soon had
dozens of landscaped beaches where you could hire a boat,
bathe and take part in entertaining activities: swimming races,
New Centres of Interest, New Uses. . . fishing competitions and regattas. All these entertaining
activities, along with the river cafés, were really like amuse-
There is nothing simple about the relations between societies ment parks.
and their waterways. In the nineteenth century, while the In the inter-war years, bathing establishments included all
town was becoming removed from the waterway which was sorts of nautical activities and came to be called “beaches”,
of less importance for transport and polluted by industry, rivalling with the seaside resorts. They were still quite popu-
citizens began to find in it a new appeal and new uses, this lar after World War II, but the advent of the indoor swimming
time recreational. The term “refound river” was sometimes pool led to their demise.
used. However, it would be fairer to say that the rise in leisure
activities created new needs that the river was one way of
meeting. This was because, during the nineteenth century, the Riverside Dance Cafés
free time that had been the sole preserve of the wealthy
classes gradually became a privilege shared, albeit parsimo- The story of the riverside dance café or “guinguette” is
niously, with the popular classes. A society of leisure was connected to the leisure time of the working class and their
emerging, partially favoured by the new modes of transport “Sundays down by the riverside”. At the beginning of the
such as railway and road. A good number of townspeople twentieth century, people went to the river on Sundays and
began to spend their free time on a Sunday in proximity to a bank holidays for a variety of leisure pursuits, often related to
waterway. In Paris, with the first local railway between Paris- the water: regattas, boating, swimming, diving competitions,
Le Pecq inaugurated in 1837, the still relatively deserted rowing races, jousting or fishing. Emile Huet, in 1900, was
banks of Seine which became accessible around the capital, full of praise: “we hear droning and marching, like fireflies
and soon Normandy followed. The end of the nineteenth on a warm evening, tiny lights come and go on the water
century was the golden age of the riverside café, boating [. . .] and there are bursts of laughter. People dance and sing
and the impressionists. It was also the time of weekends at the Eldorado whose two-storey pavilion lights up and fills
and leisure activities with the growth of recreational uses of with sound, and the moon rises and scatters drops of silver
the waterways: bathing, boating, fishing, etc. But most often, into the wakes of the boats”.
thanks to the railways, people travelled outside of the towns The guinguette should be placed in the more general
to find banks that were still “natural” devoted to leisure context of the time: there was a wide variety of activities
activities. Having known a prosperous period, these recrea- available to the public along the edges of the Marne River.
tional activities partially abated, or were transformed, at the During the summer season, nautical fêtes were organised in
same time as the industrial activities strongly criticised for the each town: in Joinville, it was the fête des Ondines, in
pollution they generated continued to decline. Nogent, the fêtes du viaduc. These fêtes attracted thousands
The use of the waterways for leisure activities is a process of visitors to the banks and on the water, to watch jousting,
anchored in the second half of the nineteenth century, when rowing races and flowered boat contests which animated the
urban dwellers did not have access to the sea shore and found edges of the river at the time. The pleasures of the water were
a substitute: the river (Guillerme 1990b; Berthier 2009). within reach for everyone: all sorts of boats could be hired.
Boating “Re-conquering” the Banks
After 1815, boats became the first autonomous leisure For a few decades, the urban banks of major rivers and in
vehicles. Sailboats (canots à voiles) were imported from particular port wastelands enjoyed a renewal of interest and
Normandy, hence the name of “canotage” for sailing. . . and generated some large-scale projects. The river had become an
the craft were gradually improved and diversified. Around essential feature of the urban landscape. It had become, at
1840, popular boating included all those who frequented the least in the way it was talked about, an object of leisure and a
“loose” guinguettes. On the Seine, some of the people out for symbol of nature. Under cover of rallying slogans of the type
a walk liked to play the sailor, dressing up and re-enacting “Make the banks accessible” or “Put the river back at the
naval battles. But there were also the serious adepts of heart of the town”, the spaces abandoned by the decline in
boating as sport who organised competitions and regattas river transport or the delocalisation of industrial activities
on the model of the English sport. were refurbished to create areas for leisure activities.
The rise in popularity of nautical sports in the first half of In the towns, two major trends then emerged and some-
the nineteenth century in the area around Paris was connected times interfered: first of all, promote the river heritage and
to the development of the inland waterways. In fact, before it give citizens back spaces of freedom and for recreational
was channelled, the Seine had been navigable only 160 days activities in relation to the waterways; secondly, redefine
per year. Starting from 1838, the channelling of the river, the waterways as “natural” ecological systems, or supposedly
using the technique of mobile dams, made up for the lack of natural systems in the name of the preservation of
water in the summer months, while facilitating navigation. biodiversity.
This infrastructure afforded flow depths that were adequate in The abandoned hangars on the quays of the Garonne in
all seasons for the growing activities of nautical sports and Bordeaux, which were disused since the port closed in 1986,
leisure boating. are going to be rehabilitated and reclassified. It is a question
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the twentieth of renewing with the architectural heritage from the city’s
century, people began to look for new spaces for leisure river navigation and port tradition by transforming these
activities that were closer to nature. The “Canoe club” abandoned wastelands into busy cultural venues and retail
founded in 1904 set itself the goal of exploring rivers and units, in order to reconcile (or so they say...) Bordeaux
streams in France to enable the growth of nautical tourism citizens with the heritage of the river. Regarding the Rhône,
(Sirost and Femenias 2012). They were looking for undevel- the idea was to recover a “river that is lively and running”.
oped rivers for the pleasure of confronting the natural We are insistently reminded that Lyon owes its existence and
elements (white water and rocks) and to experience the fris- prosperity to the river, and that by restoring it, it is the very
son of adventure. The practice of canoeing grew at that time nature of the town that is being rehabilitated. This touches on
and was part of an imaginary wild nature. Subsequently, one of the founding myths and the river becomes the medium
canoeing was nonetheless practiced in sites neglected by for a new urban identity. The river “deteriorated” by pollution
navigation and developed specifically for the sport, which and developments is contrasted with the conventional image
had become competitive. Certain navigable rivers were there- of a time when man, who had few technological resources,
fore put to a new use. lived in close contact with the river. And, following this
anxiety-provoking rationale, if the river has lost its identity,
people, for their part, have lost their soul.
Angling The emergence of new sensitivities and high social demand for
public spaces and areas for leisure in cities, are making rivers a
Fishing with a line and hook has long been a livelihood central preoccupation once more. This return to the river offered
activity. Numerous iconographic documents attest to the by free spaces and an open horizon seems in fact to correspond to
a need for nature or rather for the idea we have construed of
practice. With advent of the leisure society, this activity it. River cities are rediscovering their watersides, all the qualities
experienced extraordinary growth among urban dwellers of which they had denied, along with their strong potential for the
looking for a break from their daily work routine, or trying renewal of the town’s image. The numerous examples of
to find a nostalgic lost world as the rural exodus emptied the revalorising the waterfronts undertaken all over the world, with
the landscaping of spaces for leisure and cultural activities, retail,
countryside. Many fishing clubs were formed at the time and offices and accommodation, have snowballed, revealing to the
organised highly prized competitions. Moreover, in the years city dwellers the pleasure of living near the water. (Lechner
between the wars, this activity became a real social phenom- 2006)
enon arousing a huge amount of interest. In parallel, highly
Starting from the 1980s, the river regained a dominant
technical methods of fishing for sport and as a social activity
place in the town (demonstrations and fetes on the banks,
(light rods, artificial flies, and reels), emerged with clubs such
landscaping of parks, etc.). It is now endowed with new
as the Fishing Club founded in 1908.
14 C. Lévêque
values drawing on essentially cultural contents (symbolic, related, and not the protection or restoration of biodiversity
recreational, and entertaining), for the well-being of the (Morandi and Piegay 2011). The situation becomes Kafka-
citizens. Water bodies are developed for their landscape and esque when we look closer, for most of the projects fail to
ecological values. Their banks, towpaths or quays, opened up implement long-term monitoring, which would provide
to pedestrians or cyclists, become places for strolling. knowledge of whether or not goals were being reached. In a
Let us be realistic nonetheless, the rush towards the water review of several hundred projects, Morandi and Piegay
is not entirely disinterested. The building sector benefits (2011) highlighted the lack of capitalisation and information
greatly and the prices of land and real estate have exchanges on the success or failure of operations. In reality,
skyrocketed. Beyond the official discourse that glorifies the there is little monitoring that could show whether or not the
re-establishing of bonds between city dweller and river, some actions implemented had positive repercussions on the natu-
observers are less optimistic. If we refer to the past, the time ral milieu. We, therefore, have the impression that what
of the riverside cabaret has gone. The guinguette has given matters is the “announcement” effect!
way to a few restaurants where the price of the cheapest menu Behind the slogans intended to rally citizen opinion
discourages the modest purse. The time for boating or even around so-called restoration projects, what is really being
bathing in the river has also passed (bathing in the Marne was promoted is a pleasant setting for living, in a space that has
finally prohibited in 1970 for health and safety reasons). Nor been rewilded, is healthy, attractive and above all safe. For
are there any swimming pools at the water’s edge any we must not lose sight of the economic and industrial
longer. . . You have to leave the urban centres behind to functions of the river, or of the fact that it is a constant threat
find a certain complicity with nature. And angling is no because of the spates. Under cover of naturalness we are
longer the favourite activity of the urban citizen. . . In terms therefore seeing a staging of nature. . .
of freshwater, nautical activities have most often migrated The story of the Bièvre in Paris, for instance, is very
rather towards the reservoirs created for irrigation or for instructive (Le Roux 2010). First of all fitted with mills as
producing hydroelectric power, or even for flood protection. early as the eleventh century, it was colonised in the four-
Sailing is practiced there, as in the sea, which still remains the teenth century by tanners and dyers, then by cobblers,
principal centre of attraction. launderers and weavers. . . and by the famous Gobelins Man-
France is one of the rare Western countries to have seen ufactory. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the
the appearance of a new type of use of the riverbanks, with Bièvre became as polluted as a sewer, emitting such a terrible
the tethering of residential barges in cities, principally in stench, that, for reasons of health, people wanted it removed
Paris and Lyon. during the works conducted by Baron Haussmann in the
mid-nineteenth century. The Bièvre was therefore covered
over and rerouted to the Paris sewers (Carré et al. 2011;
Restoration? Lestel and Carré 2017). To respond to the back-to-nature
aspirations of certain citizens, large sums of money are now
In the 1980s, there was growing awareness of environmental being spent to restore the course of the Bièvre, symbol of a
issues and a new conception emerged of the waterway, which river sacrificed in the name of the economy... The public has
was no longer a physical object, but an ecosystem and a been mobilised around a falsely bucolic image of the river.
habitat. Its development therefore had to meet increasingly Beyond the discourse on wilding and the conservation of
strict conditions in terms of ecosystem preservation. The new biodiversity, in reality, what is at work is the creation of a
challenges are to restore the waterways as a living landscape that is artificial but aesthetically pleasing,
environment. according to the norms of the moment, and secure, to prevent
Restoring the waterways is an undertaking separate from negative-impact events at all costs.
the rewilding of the riverbanks. It is achieved through two It appears that what people call “nature” is eminently cultural. It
main procedures: controlling pollution and restoring aquatic does not coincide with the objective definitions given by the
habitats. The control of pollution has undoubtedly been a ecologists. While landscapes perceived as natural are deemed
success. Since the water agencies were set up in 1964, the more aesthetically pleasing, this is because the landscape
structures that characterise them correspond to a cultural ideal. . .
measures taken have borne fruit, even though the situation is These aesthetic preferences do not therefore seem, under any
not yet fully satisfactory. As for the ecological restoration of circumstances, to be related to good ecological status. In fact,
the waterways, it has become a leitmotif on the part of naturalness is not necessarily compatible with the state of nature
managers and ecology movements. But beyond the general as it is apprehended by the ecologists. In this sense, naturalness,
as perceived by the man in the street, is likely to be in contradic-
discourse that stigmatises the impact of human activities, the tion with naturalness as apprehended by the ecologists in charge
objectives remain vague. of defining good ecological status. (Tronchère-Cottet 2010)
In actual fact, the reasons behind most of the waterway
restoration projects are aesthetic, economic or security
Bellenger et al. (2015) drew our attention to the more or perceived as a threat due to disastrous flooding when the river
less underground role of local stakeholders. Alongside envi- was in spate.
ronmental restoration operations on the Seine estuary, The banks of the Seine in Paris are listed as a UNESCO
conducted under the aegis of the government, a handful of world heritage site. From the Louvre to the Eiffel tower, or
nature lovers (hunters, fishermen, gatherers and naturalists) from Place de la Concorde to the Grand Palais and the Petit
strive to make these processes of reconquering, restoration Palais, with architectural masterpieces such as Notre-Dame
and rewilding coincide with the interests of the local popula- Cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle, we can see how Paris has
tion. They share a common passion, that of the garden estu- changed and watch its history from the Seine. Here, the river
ary. Their interventions take the form of political pressure is not the main target but constitutes the medium of heritage.
through play acting, for example on the subject of land Heritage policies must include the different
planning schemes, but also by making active proposals in representations and different economic challenges that inter-
terms of rewilding (educational projects, heritage manage- act in a territory. For some, it is a question of preserving a
ment, defence and development of uses, etc.). territorial identity and protecting it from damage related to
opening up to the outside world. For others, on the contrary,
heritage is a resource to be promoted as part of local devel-
River Heritage opment, in particular by opening up to tourism. And so the
application to have the Loire Valley listed as a world heritage
Urban leisure activities developed within the largely site was no doubt to showcase the historical significance of
manmade scope of the river landscapes inherited from the region, but it is clear that the world heritage listing is also
developments undertaken to facilitate various uses made of an excellent argument for promoting tourism. For behind the
the waterways. . . These are sometimes described as heritage. notion of heritage a new use of the waterways is emerging:
Heritage: “Any trace of the past that is tangible, intangible tourism. The countryside is reinvested with respect to this
and symbolic, steeped in meaning for a community that new reference to legitimise a territorial development policy.
appropriates it and endows itself with the means of collective Folklore events such as gatherings of old sailing boats
transmission. It conjugates multiple facets, including those of (Armada, Orléans) (Sirost et al. 2012) are another form of
eco-heritage, with the landscapes, the milieus, its flora and heritage approach. They are in fact driven by enthusiasts
fauna but also with nautical practices”. (Le Sueur 2012) nostalgic for river cultures that are being lost and who wish
Like rural heritage, river heritage, therefore, combines to maintain the memory of the traditions, but they are also,
natural elements, built elements, structured landscapes, and perhaps above all, based on economic considerations and
tools and a whole range of cultural elements related to the the promotion of tourism in the regions.
use and knowledge of the waterways. The conservation of heritage comes into conflict with the
The recognition of the heritage content of the rivers and principles of restoration of the waterways, and the dogma of
their urban fronts has been a real driving force in the trans- ecological continuity that emerged from the Grenelle envi-
formation of the perception and handling of the quays, banks, ronment forum and carried by militant ecologists for whom
warehouses and industrial structures. The heritage value of a the return to the wild is a priority goal. According to some
waterway then becomes a major stake for planning policies managers, the levelling of dams would make it possible to
through conservation and development projects that are re-establish the ecological and sediment continuity of the
sometimes in competition. river, to meet the demands of good ecological status of the
The heritage approach is also a response to an identity- waterways as per the European directive on water. They
related motivation. The current heritage is our history, that of argue that the vast majority of hydraulic facilities have lost
our ancestors who helped to build the setting for our home their initial economic function, and that the high cost of
life. An approach that is sometimes idealised, or even maintenance, as well as their impact on the natural milieu,
invented. Thus, the idea of a Loire Valley identity based on raise the question of what is to become of them. This, of
a close link between the residents and the river (some people course, refers to small structures such as mills, some of which
even speak of symbiosis) raises questions, since historical are undoubtedly in a state of abandonment. But this approach
analysis shows that from as early as the eighteenth century makes little of the residential river landscape which has been
the Loire was no longer indispensable to the agricultural built up over time, and the attachment of the residents to their
economy. As for navigation, it ceased in the nineteenth mills and the associated reservoirs which also serve various
century, and people living near the river, at least in the cities, ecological purposes.
kept their distance from the water which at that time was
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16 C. Lévêque
Conclusions Berthier K. (2009) D’une rive à l’autre. Service Etudes et

Programmation, Direction des Espaces Verts et du Paysage Conseil
général du Val-de-Marne. http://docplayer.fr/11298555-Service-
Our river systems have been greatly altered down through the etudes-et-programmation-direction-des-espaces-verts-et-du-
centuries to meet the needs of productive or defensive uses paysage-conseil-general-du-val-de-marne-karine-berthier.html
some of which are now receding or are no longer current. Bonin S (2007) Fleuves en ville : enjeux écologiques et projets urbains.
Strates [En ligne], 13. http://strates.revues.org/5963
Many of these developments have since been “recovered” for
Bravard JP (2004) Villes de réservoirs sur le Yangzi et sur le Rhône :
other activities, in particular recreational. There are numerous niveaux fluviaux et gestion des berges à Chongqing et Lyon.
examples: tow paths for hiking, dams and reservoirs for Géocarrefour 79(1):49–62
sailing, millstreams for canoeing or kayaking, canals for Carré C, et al. (2011) Les petites rivières urbaines d’Ile de France.
Découvrir leur fonctionnement pour comprendre les enjeux autour
river tourism, etc. In this context, cities have undertaken to
de leur gestion et de la reconquête de la qualité de l’eau. PIREN
transform their abandoned river infrastructure into spaces for Seine, fascicule 11. http://www.sisyphe.upmc.fr/piren_drupal6/?
recreational and entertaining activities. Under the pretext of q¼webfm_send/1008
re-establishing the link between river and citizen, which is Guillerme A (1990a) Eaux vives et eaux mortes entre Moyen Age et
Renaissance. in « Le grand ivre de l’Eau », sous la direction de Jean
partly true, large-scale real estate operations have been
Aubouin. La Manufacture, Paris
arranged that are of benefit to the city’s economy. In this Guillerme A (1990b) Le testament de la Seine. Géocarrefour
type of operation, which consists of staging nature using our 65-4:240–250
current criteria of aesthetically pleasing and safe, in reality Huet E (1900) Promenades pittoresques dans le Loiret (Châteaux –
Monuments – Paysages), 325 p
little concern is given to wildness, while the impression is
Le Roux T (2010) Une rivière industrielle avant l’industrialisation : la
given that a natural river is being recreated. The banks are Bièvre et le fardeau de la prédestination, 1670–1830. Géocarrefour
still covered in stone and concrete, and there is no question of 85(3):193–207
allowing the river to flow freely once again. . . Le Sueur B (2012) Navigation intérieure : histoire de la batellerie de la
préhistoire à demain. Douarnenez, Chasse-Marée, 240p
S. Bonin (2007) invites us to reconsider with a critical eye
Lechner G (2006) Le fleuve dans la ville. La valorisation des berges en
the discourse presented by the towns that “breathe new life” milieu urbain Note de synthèse, Direction générale de l’urbanisme,
into their river, “reconcile with..”, or “set out to de l’habitat et de la construction, centre documentaire de
re-conquer. . .”. She tells us clearly that there is no link l’urbanisme, octobre 2006
Lestel L, Carré C (2017) Les rivières urbaines et leur pollution. Quae,
between this dynamic and a rise in environmental concerns
Paris
for hydro-ecosystems as a living habitat in the town. “‘Natu- Lévêque C (2016) Quelles rivières pour demain? Quae, Paris
ral’ banks, islands, riverside woods, quality water, like the Lévêque C (2019) La mémoire des fleuves et des rivières. L’histoire des
uses we see supporting projects in ecological engineering relations entre les hommes et les cours d'eau à travers les siècles.
Ulmer, Paris
(environmental education, local leisure pursuits such as fish-
Miquel P (1994) Histoire des canaux, fleuves et rivières de France.
ing or bathing) are not the subjects of this re-conquest”. And Éditions no 1, Paris, 317p
she supports her words by underlining that this type of Morandi B, Piegay H (2011) Les restaurations de rivières sur Internet:
concern disappears very early on in the realisation of two premier bilan. Natures Sciences Sociétés 19:224–235
Porhel JL (2012) Histoire des incessants travaux menés par la ville de
urban projects studied: the islands of the Rhône downstream
Tours pour lutter contre les inondations. Mémoires de l’Académie
of Lyon, and l’île de Nantes, on the Loire. des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Touraine 25(2012):153–184
Sirost O, Femenias D (2012) Les usages récréatifs de l’estuaire de la
Seine. GIP Seine Aval, Rouen
Sirost O, Melin H, Lecoeur M, Bouillon D (2012) Projet Enfants Du
References Fleuve: Paysages vécus et paysages perçus de l’estuaire de la Seine.
Projet Seine-Aval 4, 223 p. http://www.seine-aval.fr/projet/enfants-
Barrier P (1990) La mémoire des fleuves de France. C. de Bartillat, du-fleuve/
Etrepilly Tronchère-Cottet M (2010) La perception des bras morts fluviaux : le
Beauchêne S (2006) Les fleuves dans le processus de métropolisation de paysage, un médiateur pour l’action dans le cadre de l’ingénierie de
l’agglomération Lyonnaise. Editions MdfR, Givors la restauration. Approche conceptuelle et méthodologique appliquée
Bellenger MC, Machemehl C, Sirost O (2015) Les passeurs de nature aux cas de l’Ain et du Rhône. Thèse université Lyon III, 361 p
face à la question de renaturation des fleuves. Chasseurs, cueilleurs,
pêcheurs de la vallée de la Seine. ISI Rivers. https://www.graie.org/
ISRivers/docs/papers/2P21-49588BEL.pdf
With Rivers to the Sea: Ecological Restoration
of Rivers and Estuaries and Nature-Based
Activities
Jean-Paul Ducrotoy
Summary The conclusion emphasizes the need for an anthropo-

Estuaries are coveted territories. However, most of the logical approach to back and sustain ecological studies.
time they are threatened by human activities, which are
meant to make the best use of them. They can be so Keywords
degraded that the restoration of their original ecological Estuary · Habitat restoration · Ecological functions · Rec-
functions is necessary. To understand what measures are reational activities · English Channel · North Sea
necessary to restore some ecologically weakened
functions in a river, its estuary and watershed, some
examples are drawn from the Interreg Tide program,
which took place from 2010 to 2013. In this chapter, an
Introduction: Ecological Restoration Versus
ecosystem approach has been adopted to propose
“Nature”
improvements in tidal estuaries of the English Channel
and the North Sea.
When rivers reach the sea, their ecological characteristics get
This chapter further considers how the public perceives
richer due to the formation of a particularly productive
such renatured environments in estuaries where motives
exchange zone between the watershed, groundwater, the
for reconquering damaged estuarine habitats were quite
atmosphere and the marine environment. The mouth of a
different In the Elbe sediments were managed for naviga-
river can be considered an estuary when it has a free connec-
tion to the port of Hamburg (Germany). In the Scheldt
tion with the open sea, and within which seawater is
flooding was a problem in relation to keeping access to the
measurably diluted with freshwater derived from land drain-
port of Antwerp (Belgium). In the Crouch sediments
age. In tidal estuaries, currents create ecological gradients
extracted from London underground for constructing a
from the open sea up to the head of the estuary. When the
fast metro were used to create a natural park at Wallasea
marine hydrodynamics are strong due to a large tidal range,
(England). In the Seine compensation measures were
strong swell and strong littoral currents, vast intertidal zones
taken due to the development of port facilities at le
are formed. Longitudinally, an estuary extends to the zone of
Havre (France). The use of restored or recreated habitats
influence of the tides. The river brings in few coarse materials
for recreational activities was neglected. These case stud-
but carries particles and soluble substances. Transversally, an
ies show that, despite the existence of few success stories,
estuarine system, as an ecological entity integrates adjacent
the public often misunderstood the need for
areas, usually wetlands, and, depending on the context, the
re-establishing ecological functions in ecosystems, which
minor and major beds of a river. The landscape offers a
had much more to offer than cycle paths and sailing
diverse but homogeneous outlook.
facilities. Paradoxically, humans are rarely considered as
Biogeochemical cycles and ecological processes interact
an integral part of the ecosystem and sociologists have
and are interconnected in a complex ecosystem enabling
promoted the term “socio-ecosystem” to reinforce the fact
humans to derive many and diverse ecosystem services.
that human societies do belong to their environment.
This explains why estuaries are sought after by humans,
both for ecological and socio-economic reasons. Based on
J.-P. Ducrotoy (*)
their geomorphological setting, the value attributed to
Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies, The University of Hull, Hull,
UK estuaries by human societies arise from their astonishing
e-mail: [email protected] biological productivity as well as on the possibility of

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48709-6_3
18 J.-P. Ducrotoy
establishing ports favourable to trade and industry. However, became a priority and was worthy of the attention of
the variety and intensity of anthropogenic pressures might engineers. The first experiments to try to recreate natural
create ecological perturbations which range from local to ecosystems were carried out at the beginning of the twentieth
global (Crossland et al. 2005). Today’s challenge is to recon- century by pioneers who first considered an ecosystem as a
cile unregulated coastal management and intense exploitation whole (Leopold 1949). The reasons for this revolution are
of living resources with a galloping drive for economic gains multiple and complex: a mixture of scientific but also histori-
(Vinebrooke et al. 2004). Among the known impacts, habitat cal curiosity, caused by an aesthetic interest and a certain
loss or degradation are considered the most detrimental not nostalgia. From a scientific point of view, respect for the old
only to human activities but also to the overall functioning of and the established cannot be avoided with the idea that a
the ecosystem. “climax” ideally combines a privileged ecological assem-
Recently, a real need for “renaturing” overexploited sites blage of organisms, endowed with distinctive qualities of
has been expressed in European estuaries, with facilities stability, harmony and a capacity for self-organization.
required for outdoor recreational activities ranging from Such concern for what will later be called “restoration of
waterfowl hunting to water sports and bird watching. That natural habitats” will remain unexpressed until the end of
is why in recent years, post-work compensation (mitigation) the twentieth century. The idea of recreating a complete
has been used for restoring degraded habitats or recreating ecosystem or even an ecological community or landscape,
lost habitats in order to maintain or rehabilitate ecological with all its attributes and processes, had long been considered
functionalities threatened or lost. utopian (Jordan and Lubick 2011). Most often, such
The loss can be permanent, the wetland disappearing improvements result in the opening of hitherto condemned
purely and simply, converted into an industrial port or agri- spaces, which were often unhealthy or, at least, damaged and
cultural zone. The construction of polders has long been the degraded, which the public do not necessarily regard as prime
response in Europe for a need for land. Thus, in virtually all locations for the development for leisure and tourism. How-
tidal estuaries in the North-West of Europe, vast areas of salt ever, the leisure industry and the practice of sports by more
marshes have been dammed and transformed into industrial and more people (generally equipped with sophisticated
zones, or converted into pasture and other agricultural lands. gears) has seized the opportunity in the years 1970s, in
In the Bay of Somme (France), about 280 km2 have been establishing now popular leisure centres and nature trails in
conquered over the sea during the last four centuries, on an estuarine restored areas. But how can these so-called nature-
intertidal zone that covered more than 350 km2 in the six- based activities be integrated into the development plans of
teenth century (Ducrotoy 2017). regenerated habitats?
Degradation may also be temporary or localized, most This chapter considers how the public perceives such
often as a result of pollution in the form of contaminated re-natured environments in several North-West-European
discharge. These two types of degradation can only be estuaries where motives for reconquering damaged estuarine
remedied by decontamination, restoration or recreation of habitats were quite different. It shows that despite the exis-
lost biotopes (Ducrotoy 2010). It will be seen in this chapter tence of few success stories, the general public often
that ecological restoration covers those strategies which lead misunderstands the need for re-establishing ecological
to the “recovery” of an estuarine ecosystem that has been functions in ecosystems that have much more to offer than
degraded, damaged or destroyed (Palmer et al. 2016). Such cycle paths and sailing facilities.
an approach is relatively recent and is based on ecological
engineering, which has allowed the recent development of a
new type of approach leading to re-estuarisation or Estuaries: Coveted Territories
de-polderisation actions.
The origin of this movement has its roots in the monastic To understand what measures are necessary to restore some
life of the Middle Ages and in the romantic movement of the ecologically weakened functions in a river, its estuary and
nineteenth century, founded on a spiritual (sometimes mysti- watershed, some examples are drawn from the Interreg Tide
cal) approach to nature. It has been concretized and made program1 which took place from 2010 to 2013. In this chap-
tangible thanks to the scientific revolution which favoured ter, the same approach has been adopted later for additional
the emergence of ecological science. Over the past few 1
The “Tide—Tidal River Development” research program was
decades, many have realized the value of the scientific
implemented between 2010 and 2014 with co-funding from port
approach, not only as an essential element of nature conser- authorities and the European Union. Confronted with the protection of
vation, but also as a framework for a compromise between natural environments (protected by European directives) and the strong
humans and their planet in a relationship that has become economic needs expressed by seaports, Tide brought together European
experts from universities, ports, waterways administrations, etc. Man-
extremely conflictual.
agement practices in the Elbe (De), Weser (De), Scheldt (BE/NL) and
The striking progress of biology and the expansion of its Humber (UK) have been compared to find solutions for sustainable
field of investigation led to a shift of focus where nature development of ecosystems.
With Rivers to the Sea: Ecological Restoration of Rivers and Estuaries and. . . 19
tidal estuaries of the English Channel and the North Sea. This definition does not imply a return to a previous state, but
These coastal seas form a continental system of the north- only concerns the restoration of certain ecological functions.
eastern Atlantic, one of the few large marine ecosystems A definition, considered more orthodox, refers to the pro-
formed by the recent flooding of a landmass that occurred cesses used to restore habitats, or an ecosystem considered to
20,000 years ago (Ducrotoy et al. 2000). This makes it a be viable both in its structure and in its functioning, according
young ecosystem, and therefore in a state of rapid ecological to the degradations inflicted by human activities (Elliott et al.
change, still today. The southern part, which includes the 2006). In summary, restoring an ecosystem will reinstate the
Channel, is shallow and presents conditions with strong functions lost by this ecosystem, or replace some functions
tidal currents where the estuaries selected for this presenta- which are considered superfluous. In a radical way, it will be
tion developed: the Somme and the Seine (France), the possible to decide on the replacement of the affected ecosys-
Crouch in England, the Scheldt in Belgium and the tem (or certain habitats) by another ecosystem, which will
Netherlands, the Elbe in Germany. All of these estuaries fulfil the intended functions. Habitat recreation can thus lead
have macro- to mega-tidal characteristics and have been to opposite results when considering estuarine systems. In the
partially filled by marine sediments because of the Flandrian case of restoration, a system may have succeeded in
marine transgression which began about 3000 years ago. As a maintaining or even gaining estuarine characteristics; in the
consequence of the resulting plugging of the internal zones, other case, the estuary will no longer exist as such.
there is presently a progradation of sedimentation towards the It should not be forgotten that the functioning of any
open sea. This has favoured the emergence of flood plains, ecosystem is based on physical, chemical and biological
which must be considered as an integral part of the estuarine processes. They enable humans to derive benefits from the
complex, even if they are largely occupied by humans. The ecosystem services which flow from them, such as the possi-
geomorphological mechanisms involved have facilitated the bility of outdoor recreation. For estuaries, accessibility to
action of local populations which have isolated many navigation is a rarely questioned service, much more
territories by the construction of polders and ports. Thus, appreciated than the regulating effect of vital continental
large areas of marine habitats have become terrestrial. With flows towards the sea and the biodiversity they shelter. The
increasing industrialization and the development of maritime Tide program showed that seven of the ten services with the
transport activities, the trend accelerated throughout the highest demand were linked to hydro-geomorphological reg-
twentieth century, resulting in considerable loss of intertidal ulation and two were directly related to the nautical or indus-
areas and sharp changes in local geomorphology. Although trial use of water. The provision of these ecosystem services
all the estuaries studied in this paper fit into this general varied spatially and temporally (e.g. seasonal variability)
scheme, it is of note that the restoration of damaged habitats between habitats and between different systems. It is there-
and ecological functions in each of these estuaries has fore in response to the need to maintain or restore these
benefited from quite different management methods. In the services that most of restoration operations were undertaken.
estuary of the Seine (Normandy, France) 90% of intertidal The use of restored or recreated habitats for recreational
zones were lost, whereas in the estuary of the Crouch (Essex, activities is often neglected. Paradoxically, humans are rarely
England), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is considered as an integral part of the ecosystem and
preparing to open an immense intertidal natural reserve, sociologists have promoted the term “socio-ecosystem” to
reconquered on agricultural land. For each example an reinforce the fact that human societies do belong to their
attempt is made to analyze consequences in three stages: environment.
the situation of ecological restoration actions, the level of
urban development of port cities and the practice of “nature”
recreation (e.g. water bodies, fishing areas, bird watching How Does the Public Perceive Restoration?
areas, playgrounds, cycling routes, walking trails...) consid-
ered to be ecosystem services to society. Putting an ecological restoration project in a scientific per-
spective implies the application of the fundamental principles
of ecology. However, due to the popularity and misunder-
Why Restore Degraded Estuarian Habitats? standing of certain concepts such as biodiversity or biological
productivity, the approach might be biased. Systematic use of
In its simplest form, ecosystem restoration can be defined as a consecrated concepts might go adrift and obscure the real
set of initiatives taken to improve an ecosystem, enabling it to stakes of the socio-economic development of the estuary
attain a better state, whatever it may be (Livingston 2006). (Ducrotoy and Yanagi 2008). For example, for the general
20 J.-P. Ducrotoy
public and politicians, biodiversity is the basis of robust and fishing and outdoor recreation. In Germany, the Länder and
productive ecosystems, which has never been scientifically the federal government oversee the implementation of
demonstrated. Recently, Elliott and Quintino (2007) European directives. To preserve the habitats included within
highlighted the paradox of estuarine quality, where a rudi- the Natura 2000 network, the federal states and the WSV
mentary specific richness supports high production and developed an integrated approach for the development of a
ensures the stability of a highly dynamic system (Holling management plan for the estuary. It was intended to integrate
1978; Peterson et al. 2010). To understand the serious politi- economic and ecological requirements through a set of
cal issues underlying the implementation of often complex measures considering many constraints such as navigation
estuarine restoration projects, a few examples follow to illus- channel maintenance, agriculture and recreation. The plan
trate how, nevertheless, a (sometimes tenuous) link can be was not legally binding, it was based on the voluntary com-
recreated between the inhabitants and the environment. We mitment of stakeholders. Regarding the dissipation of energy
can judge it through the study of outdoor recreation, bringing of the tide in the mouth, “natural” river engineering controls
in a scientist’s perspective on the relationship between were put forward. The main management problems stemmed
“nature”, recreation and communities and exploring the from conflicts marked between the navigation of larger
main sociological issues of an “ecological” restoration vessels and maintaining the areas protected under the Natura
policy. 2000 network (Fig. 1).
A sociological survey (Ratter and Weig 2012) was
conducted in 2012–2013 by Tide to establish how local
The Elbe: Managing Sediments for Navigation populations perceived proposed strategies. The investigation
to the Port of Hamburg (Germany) revealed weaknesses in the knowledge of the public on both
the natural characteristics of the estuary and the necessity to
The first case study is the estuary of the Elbe (Germany). To dredge it regularly. The idea of nature remained vague
improve navigation and reverse the steady increase in although it was possible to connect (often contrasting)
activities devoted to dredging the estuary, the Port of Ham- opinions to specific social groups. Some saw nature as virgin,
burg and the federal service of inland waterways (WSV) have where humans had never intervened, so non-existent in
developed a concept to mitigate tidal energy responsible for Germany. Others had a vision more down to earth and con-
bringing into the estuary increasing amounts of sediment. sidered natural any territory that had some natural elements
The first goal was to reduce dredging activities, while pro- such as trees and birds. Regarding the estuary, everyone
moting conservation of existing natural habitats, to enhance agreed that it was an indispensable communication axis but
biodiversity and to promote the activities of “nature” such as that they did not hesitate to visit regularly for leisure.
Fig. 1 Haseldorf Nature Reserve, the Elbe estuary and Hamburg industrial estate in the background
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is a mighty edicating sort of thing, and I guess you’ve been
educated, haven’t you?”
James shook hands and followed up the conversation until the top of
the hill was reached.
All had a good dinner, and felt better.
It was a simple act of courtesy which the occasion demanded, to
help the young lady of sixteen, more or less, from the coach, as she
was ready to step out after James had alighted, and as she thanked
him very graciously he could but offer to escort her to the table, and
with rare good grace she assented.
James had done such things before, and done them very
handsomely, in connection with their college-exhibitions and socials
in the town, to which he occasionally went.
Kentucky is a great country for quail, and the colored cook had
broiled and buttered them that day exactly to the taste of an
epicurean. They were simply delicious, and just in season. They
enjoyed them hugely, and chatted with the cheer and gusto of old
friends, mostly speaking of the glories of the North, in which they
perfectly agreed, and upon their homes. “One touch of nature makes
the whole world kin” may be true or not, but that little touch of nature
in the stage-coach had made them kin.
Another fresh brace of the savory quails had just been placed before
them, when the coach dashed around to the door, and the lusty
voice of the driver crying “All aboard!” resounded through the hall
and open door of the dining-room.
There was no alternative, so without delay they resumed their old
seats, and conversation was discontinued.
The political status of the company had been pretty well defined, and
James had made two friends, the names of neither of whom,
however, he had learned.
There was a lull in the conversation, and James was going over his
scheme of study and recitations for the twentieth time, when at three
o’clock Georgetown was announced. He bade his two friends good-
bye, and expressed the hope that all would enjoy their journey.
The stage had but just started, when the old Jacksonian said, “I
dunno but the boy is more n’r half right, anyhow.” The young lady
knew he was, but the lady number one did not know about it.
“Well, it’s mighty sartin the Declaration is agin’ Slavery, and the Bible
can’t stand up for both, nohow,” said the man who walked up the hill
with James.
James was now in his lodgings, and liked the looks of things. He had
just brushed and dusted up when he heard the tap of a drum, and
looking out he saw a line of cadets forming, and ascertaining that
that was the academy, he walked over and saw one hundred and
fifty fine-looking young men, handsomely uniformed, each with a
musket, marching to music of fife and drum. They stood erect and
stepped together. It was a fine sight to him. They went through the
evolutions, marked time, marched, and countermarched.
The entire faculty were present. He ventured in, and soon heard a
messenger announce that Mr. Blaine had come, but he had missed
him. He simply said, “I am Mr. Blaine,” and the Principal grasped his
hand with evident delight, placing his left hand upon his shoulder and
saying, “I am glad to see you, Mr. Blaine,” and introduced him to the
other teachers, and then turning to the students he said, “Battalion,
permit me to present to you our new professor, James G. Blaine, of
Washington, Pennsylvania; you will please receive him at present
arms”; instinctively Mr. Blaine removed his hat in recognition of his
reception. “Perhaps you have a word for the boys,” said the
Principal, and the battalion was brought to a “shoulder arms,” an
“order arms,” and then to a “parade rest,” when, stepping forward, he
said,—“I am glad to see you, gentlemen, in such fine form and spirit,
and so accomplished at your drill, for I watched you several
moments yonder, unobserved. We had nothing of this kind where I
studied, but I think it must be a fine thing for you. I hope you will
never be needed in your country’s service, though it does begin to
look a little as though there might possibly be war with Mexico. But
as I have been nearly two weeks on my journey, and as we shall
have ample time to get acquainted, I will not detain you longer.”
Three cheers were proposed for Professor Blaine, and given with a
will. The Professor was the lion of the hour.
The Principal said, “You will take tea with me, Professor Blaine?”
“With great pleasure.”
And to the other professors, “You will please take tea with Professor
Blaine, at my house.”
The hour spent in the study with the Principal was not without a
purpose on his part. It confirmed all that Doctor McConaughy and
Professor Murray had written about him, and afforded certain
knowledge that they had drawn a prize. By an adroit, yet careless
method of conversation, introducing a general discussion of the
textbooks of the day, with their general contents, their defects and
excellences, the great knowledge of the new man was made evident,
and it was not restricted to the mere curriculum of studies.
“Surely,” thought he, “I am in for it now in earnest,” as he was left
alone for a few moments while his host went down to receive his
other guests.
There was not a soul within three hundred miles who would think of
calling him Jim Blaine, or Jimmy, nor dare to, if by some strange,
unnatural process it did occur to him.
He was treated, respected, and honored as a man and a scholar.
The world had opened to him, and he had entered. It was well there
was no show or shoddy about him, and he knew it. The stamp of the
mint was on him, and he passed at par, with the ring of honest coin.
There is a power in some men to meet any emergency when it is
fairly on them. They rise with the tide, become a part of the occasion,
and adjust themselves to it with a quiet dignity. He had this power,
and felt it on him now. As he was going down-stairs to be presented
to the ladies, he said to himself, as he threw back his hair with a
quick, decided toss, “No politics to-night”; and this prolific subject
was mentally abjured.
They received him as an equal, spoke of the favorable opinion they
all entertained of him, and the joy his coming had given them.
He thanked them, and spoke of the pleasure he experienced in
coming to a state so great in the nation’s life.
It was a matter of conscience with Professor Blaine to know where
he was going and where he had been, so that he had made his own
state as well as that of Ohio where he had spent the term at school,
and the state of Kentucky, a special study; so that when they were
fairly seated at table, and after repeated questions had been asked,
he fairly eclipsed all his former attempts at conversation, by the
brilliancy of his historical allusions, extending far back into colonial
days.
He had learned, by his early drill in Plutarch’s Lives, where a brief
biography of a Roman and a Greek are alternately given, and then
comparisons and contrasts between them introduced, so to deal with
states and individuals. He had thus dealt with political parties and
their leaders, but not to-night. This method helped him greatly.
Events, dates, names, places, fell into line and were marshalled like
troops just when the drum tapped, or the word of command was
given. They all seemed amazed; an hour passed by; material
sufficient for a half-dozen Fourth of July orations had been given. A
veritable panorama of those three great states, three of the greatest
in the Union, seemed to march before them in sections and decades.
The members of the faculty, who understood very well what it was to
know and to talk, had some very complimentary things to say. He
had won them all, so unobtrusive was he, and entirely at his ease,
withal.
Monday morning, at nine o’clock, twenty-eight young men marched
into the school-room and faced him as their teacher, twelve of them
older than himself. They had taken his measure when on drill, and
felt honored to call him teacher.
They were from the best families of the state, were clad in bright
uniforms, and sat erect. Mathematics was the first recitation. He
looked around almost instinctively for Solomon Phillips or Professor
Murray, but they were not there. He was on the platform, not in the
seats. He must lead off. A list of names had been furnished him. As
he read them over, calling each name by itself, the scholar came
forward and received a hearty shake of the hand, and was
photographed at once in the mind of the teacher. This was the work
of but a few minutes, yet it recognized each one of them, and made
them feel acquainted. No other teacher had done this, but it was
something they could tell of, write home about, and made them say,
—“He is a fine man; I like him.”
He then told them many things about mathematics as a science, its
power in intellectual development, and its great value in the practical
business of life; its place in astronomy and engineering, in naval and
military operations, and the certainty with which it assures the mind.
It was a simple, quiet talk, illustrated in various ways by references
to the book and the sciences spoken of. He thus drew them nearer
to himself, and removed the dread with which so many approach the
vexed subject of mathematics. This class was in algebra, on at cube
root, doing pretty solid work. The ground was familiar to him.
Problem after problem had been performed; the whole class seemed
roused to a new interest, and in stepped the Principal, but the work
went on. Every blackboard was in use; it was a busy scene; there
were no idlers there.
“Never touch a problem hereafter,” he said, “unless you are certain
you have the rule fixed in your minds. Do not forget this, and if you
have that clear, then ask yourself, in case of difficulty, ‘What axiom
shall I use next?’ for you must keep using them, as you do the letters
of the alphabet, over and over again.
“One thing more: we are going to have hard, quick work done in this
room, and be sure now that every one gets ready for it, and we will
have a splendid time.”
Mr. Blaine’s resources had never been drawn on before in any real,
business-like way. But it was an experience he was ready for, and he
liked it. He next had a class in Latin, and then in United States
history. He could not have been better suited in studies. They were
just the ones that delighted him. Christmas seemed to come that
year on wings, and soon the spring-time was on them, and the picnic
season.
He had shut himself up closely to his work. Visitors had abounded,
but he accepted but few of the invitations that were given. He did not
even accept any one of several invitations to spend the holidays with
students at their homes. A short trip to Lexington and Frankfort
satisfied, and he was back at work.
The literature of every subject connected with his recitations must he
read up carefully, and every spare hour was devoted to these lines of
study.
But he did go to the annual picnic. He was part of the school, and he
must go. Everybody went, seemingly. It was a sectional affair; other
schools were there. He met a familiar face: it was a lady’s; who could
it be?
She recognized him, and bowed. He returned it. He awoke as from a
revery, he had so lived in his work; and being worried with the
question, “Where have I seen that face,” traced it at once to the
stage-coach. They were introduced.
It was Miss Hattie Stanwood, of Augusta, Maine. She also was
teaching school, not far away. It was quite the thing in that day for
well-educated New England girls or young ladies to go South and
teach school.
They had remembered each other through the winter, but neither
knew the other’s name, address, or occupation. Now all was clear.
Thoughts and dreams were actualized. It was a marvel, almost a
miracle, that they should meet.
The picnic had no further charms for them. They quietly strolled
away together over the hills after the lunch was served, and for three
full hours they lived in each other’s lives. They seemed strangely
near to each other, and a peculiar peaceful joy seemed living in their
hearts. It had evidently come to stay. None other ever seemed to be
so needful to life itself. No formal words were spoken, only cards
exchanged and carefully preserved. In two weeks her school would
close, and she would spend the summer northward at her home, and
he would take a long trip southward through various states, and see
what could be seen as far down as New Orleans. They spent two
afternoons in each other’s company before the time of departure
came; correspondence was agreed upon, and in the autumn they
would meet and renew acquaintance in the old posts of duty. Some
slight tokens were exchanged, and as they must they nerved brave
hearts for a long and perilous separation.
When the time for their departure came they were found seated side
by side in the same old coach, for Louisville. The ride was much
shorter and far more pleasant in that rich and beauteous spring-time
than in the ripe and luscious autumn before.
Politics was a barren subject now. Homes were admired as they
passed along; bits of sentiment indulged; snatches of song and lines
of poetry; much sober, sensible talk filled in the hours which served
as a needed respite to minds kept hard at thought throughout the
year.
The future loomed up, real and grand. Their lives took on a glow of
interest and earnestness of hope they never had known. There
seemed to be a reason in them now, before unseen. They felt their
worth and knew their joy, as it was never felt or known before.
Mr. Blaine took his southern trip, and made business of it. He knew
the history of all that country, every state and town.
It had a vastly different look to him from any region of the North
which he had visited. Slavery was the hideous monstrosity of evil
that met him everywhere. It was to him the great contradiction and
condemnation of the South.
He had heard and heard, but determined to see for himself, and see
he did. There was much that seemed pleasant in plantation-life, but
when he went to the slave-pens and the slave-auctions, and saw
families broken and sold asunder, and heard their cries, and saw the
blows,—their only recognition,—his patriot-blood boiled fiercely in his
veins. It was enough. He sought his old home, and spent a happy
month or more with its loved ones, those who rejoiced with him
greatly over the achievements of the year.
Miss Stanwood made her journey northward amid all the loveliness
of Nature, and arrived home far more the woman than when she left.
Life was more real and earnest now, and filled with larger hopes.
She was charmed with the South, and had strange longings to
return. But letters are tell-tale things, for men, without any special
reason, will write a great, bold hand.
James was able to lay two hundred dollars on the table on his return,
and entertained them by the hour with stories of the South. He had
seen much gambling and drinking, many bowie knives and revolvers,
and seen many splendid specimens of men.
He was filled with its beauties and glories, and with its generous,
kindly hospitalities. It was a region so historic, so immense in
possibilities, so alive and magnificent with the old ante-bellum
greatness, and splendor of cities and homes; so many graduates
from Yale and Harvard, which had been a dream of fame and
greatness ever to him; so many men of leisure, and, withal, so much
to see; so much of pleasing, thrilling interest; so much stir and life,
that weeks passed by.
He spent parts of two winters in New Orleans. He was, in fact, a
southern man for the time. His business was in the South, and his
great social powers gave him friends and entrance everywhere.
The kind letters of his fellow-teachers,—Colonel Thorndike F.
Johnson, the principal of the Academy, and Colonel Bushrod
Johnson, after of the Confederate army,—gave him many pleasing
acquaintances. This was twelve or fourteen years before the war.
The political business and educational interests of the country were
a unit. There was no talk of rebels or of treason. The prominent men
of the country, politically, were largely from the South. The presidents
had been selected largely from that section, and the political
contests throughout were carried on by parties whose strongholds
were North and South. Only the summer before, President Polk had
made a tour through the Middle and Eastern states, going eastward
as far as Portland, Maine, and was received with every
demonstration of respect. Nathan Clifford, of Maine, was his
Attorney-general, and Mr. Bancroft, his Minister to England.
Mr. Blaine’s father had moved to Washington, as he was
prothonotary of the courts, during his term at college, so that he had
made his home with them during some of these years, and the
remainder of the time with a Mrs. Acheson. He had ample
opportunity to renew acquaintance with old friends; with Prof. Wm. P.
Aldrich, who had drilled him so faithfully in mathematics: with Prof.
Richard Henry Lee, grandson of Richard Henry Lee, of the
Revolutionary war, who was his professor of rhetoric and belle-
lettres; with his firm friend, Professor Murray, who so inspired him in
the study of the languages, and gave Mr. Blaine a regular theological
drill in the study of Greek, that most perfect receptacle of human
thought, in all its shades and vastness, even now,—a language
which took up Christ, his kingdom, and his mission, thoughts and
doctrines, and perpetuated them for the world.
No drill is more highly intellectual, more conducive of fine taste, good
judgment, and accuracy, than the study of the Greek; and this he
had under the master-hand.
To Prof. Richard Henry Lee may be traced the training of power so
brilliantly displayed in Mr. Blaine’s forensic efforts and on the stump.
To renew acquaintance with these men, and a multitude of other
friends, was a part of his great pleasure. He was fresh and full as
ever, taller by an inch, and larger every way. He no longer seemed to
them a boy, but had the air and manners of a man, and yet his laugh
was as merry and hearty, his shake of the hand as vigorous and
friendly as ever.
The sunny South shone full upon them in the fresh report he
brought. It was a goodly land, and he had made it a study, bringing
to bear all his power of close observation.
He had taken his course at college principally for the sake of study,
simply, and the knowledge he gained; but the prominent thought in
his mind had been journalism. This had not been his purpose in
education, but simply a chief idea in his mind rather than a chosen
aim in life. So that with this thought within him, and the habit of
seeing everything on him, but little escaped the wide range of his
vision during his southern journeyings.
Of course when home he did not ignore the old college-library. It was
a resort so greatly loved, and almost sacred.
But when the hour struck he was eager to be off for his post of duty,
—Kentucky. Promptness and despatch were ever elements of power
with him. He reached Georgetown ahead of time, and was rested
and in readiness when the new year of work began, and it was a
year of hard, steady, constant work with him. He not only had now a
reputation to sustain, but to be greatly advanced. That a man stops
growing when he is satisfied, was a thing perfectly understood by
him. A man without ambition is dead while he lives, and the one
content to live with his head over his shoulder may as well be turned
into a pillar of salt. It is the men who look ahead, and who look up
who have a future. A backward look is a downward look to them.
Competition was strong at the academy. Enthusiasm was great.
Professor Blaine had done much to arouse it, but all unconsciously.
He had held steadily to his fixed habits of study, preparing carefully
for each recitation himself, permitting no shams in his class-room.
The military discipline at the institution aided greatly its matter of
discipline. Life and energy were everywhere manifest.
And so the year passed with nothing special worthy of note, except
the amount of real work performed, and the large measure of
success achieved.
Acquaintance with his lady friend was early renewed and pleasantly
continued. It had much to do with the inspiration of the present and
in shaping his future. Of course it was kept a profound secret, and no
one in Kentucky permitted to know that they were aught to each
other except chance friends, and indeed in point of formal fact they
were not until near the close of the year, when the crisis came; but
the young professor was a gallant knight, and had occasion required
might readily have performed some thrilling act of knighthood that
would have set the neighborhood agog, for none can doubt he had it
in him even then. Milder methods have ever been his rule, except
emergency arise, and then he arises with it.
It is this ability of abilities, this almost perfection of powers, that has
made him equal to every occasion, however dire or desperate
opposition may have been; that has given him his great prominence
in journalism, in halls of legislature, both of state and nation, and in
the field of politics. But he has had this mountain-peak of power
because beneath and back of it lay a long mountain-range of
endeavor, capacity, and growth.
The patient, hard, honest toil of years has ever and anon had its
culmination in hours of splendid victory.
V.
A NEW FIELD.
HE years at Georgetown reviewed and solidified the work of

his student scholarly life thus far, beside carrying him
forward to new fields of conquest. Courtship could not
interfere with study and with work, and it did not.
This new relationship had changed somewhat the plan of life. Other
years could be but a repetition of the two now nearly passed, so that
while he was in the line of promotion and in a place to grow, it was
not just the thing, so he relinquished his professorship and went
northward.
These years had been eventful in the history of the country. The
Mexican war had been fought, and General Taylor, its hero, elected
and inaugurated president. Both were triumphs of the Slave-Power.
President Polk had taken part in the ceremonies attendant upon the
inauguration of General Taylor, and gone to his home in Tennessee
by way of Richmond, Charleston, and New Orleans, only to die on
the 15th of June, 1849, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
The cholera was raging in the South “like a desolating blast. It swept
over the valley of the Mississippi, carrying off thousands with the
suddenness of the plagues of the old world.” The South was surely
no place for northerners at such a time.
The great gold-fever of California was on the country, and scores
were hurrying to the Pacific coast. But Mr. Blaine had no taste for
adventure,—no thirst for gold. He was a man of books and a man of
affairs, profoundly interested in all that pertained to the country, but
too young as yet either to hold office or vote.
He took his last winter’s journey to the South, and returned home to
find his father near his end, at the age of fifty-five years.
James was now twenty years old, and the pressure of new
responsibilities was on him. His attention is turned to business
matters, and he displays the same capacity and aptitude which in
fuller power have characterized him.
He early became impressed with the extent and richness of the great
coal-fields of Pennsylvania, and before he was thirty years of age
made those investments which have so enriched him in later years.
It is the part of wisdom and sagacity in men to make the most of their
first years, or the first half of life. This is an eminent feature in the
career of Mr. Blaine. There are no wasted years in his life; no baneful
habits to destroy his energies or dry up the fountain of his joys. He is
a clean, strong, vigorous man, and is able to celebrate the year of
his majority with a more extensive preparation and experience as
scholar, teacher, traveler, and man of business, and a brighter
outlook for life, than falls to the lot of many young Americans.
In this year of 1851 transpired the event more propitious than any
other. It was his marriage, at Pittsburgh, to Miss Hattie Stanwood,
the present Mrs. Blaine, a lady of fine culture and rare good sense,
who loves her home with the devotion of a true wife and noble
mother.
It would require the sagacity of a sage to have predicted the future of
Mr. Blaine, had it not been his kindly fortune to have his life crowned
with so much of goodness, wisdom, intelligence, and love, as is
found in the companion of his honors and joys.
Six children, now living, have come in these years to honor their
wedded life;—a goodly family indeed.
It is perhaps not unworthy of remark that during an entire century of
the nation’s life, but one old bachelor was ever elected president,
and he the last resort of an expiring Democracy.
From 1852 to 1854 Mr. Blaine was principal teacher in the Institution
for the Blind at Philadelphia, meanwhile reading law in the office of
Theodore Cuyler, who became a leading lawyer in that famed city,
eminent for the greatness of the members of its bar.
These quiet years of reading and study and teaching in a great
degree fitted Mr. Blaine for his career as a statesman.
He fitted himself for admission to the bar, but never committed
himself to the practice of the profession by assuming its functions.
The love of journalism would not die. It was in his heart. The time
had come to give it light and opportunity. Often had the attractions of
the Pine Tree state been presented to him by Mrs. Blaine in all the
glowing colors with which youth is accustomed to paint the scenes
that lie near its heart. No state had the charms for her possessed by
the state of Maine. Here she was born, and here those dearest to
her resided.
As yet they had not settled down for life. The time had come for their
decision. Her powers of argument, and its very eloquence of oratory,
without aught of noise and gesture, but of simple and quiet way,
were brought into requisition, and it was decided not to go west and
grow up with the country, but go east and grow where greatness has
its models.
Maine has never wanted for great men; she had them then, she has
them to-day.
In 1854 Mr. Blaine removed with his family to Augusta, the capital
city of Maine, where he has since resided.
He purchased, with Joseph Baker, the Kennebec Journal, founded in
1823.
Now, the political field could be reviewed and studied at will; the
political arena was entered. The paper had been first started by a
meeting of the principal citizens to found a Republican paper, and
such it was in real earnest. No longer the secluded life of the
student, or the quiet life of the teacher.
Embarking in journalism at such a time was like embarking on the
sea, where storms and collisions abound; where icebergs show
themselves, and rocks and reefs are found. No country has more
political storms and commotions, perhaps, than America. They are of
all kinds and sizes, from city, town, county, up to state and national
storms, and blows, hurricanes, and tempests. In those times of the
slave oligarchy, they beat with a fury unknown to-day. Sometimes
they were fierce in their cruelty. It was a fight of great learning and
profound convictions on both sides, a fight of dearest principle and of
Christian faith.
President Taylor had died on the 9th of July, 1850, and Millard
Fillmore served out his term of office. March 4, 1853, Franklin
Pierce, of New Hampshire, who, in 1846, had declined to be
Attorney-general in President Polk’s cabinet; also an appointment of
United States Senator by Governor Steele, and the Democratic
nomination for Governor, but had plunged into the Mexican war and
won his honors there, and who stood at the head of the New
Hampshire bar, was inaugurated President, and ruled the nation
when Mr. Blaine became an editor. He had a powerful cabinet, who,
of course, were among the prominent public men of the time.
When Mr. Blaine entered political life, though not of his ilk, there
were William L. Marcy, of New York, Secretary of State; Robert
M’Clelland, of Michigan, Secretary of the Interior; James Guthrie, of
Kentucky, Secretary of the Treasury; Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi,
Secretary of War; James Dobbins, of North Carolina, Secretary of
the Navy; Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, Attorney-general, and
James Campbell, of Pennsylvania, Postmaster-general. Webster,
Corwin, Stuart, Conrad, Graham, Crittenden, and Hall had been in
Mr. Fillmore’s cabinet. The time for Republican victory was drawing
nigh, and the young editor was in position to help bring it on.
It was the centennial of the city’s history. The celebration was very
beautiful, an account of which appeared in Mr. Blaine’s paper, the
Kennebec Journal, of July 6, 1854, and seemed auspicious of his
arrival in the city, and the inauguration of his work.
Augusta is about midway between towns that boast two of the
leading institutions of learning in the state, Colby University at
Waterville, and Bowdoin College at Brunswick, where Longfellow
graduated, and his class-mate, Hon. James W. Bradbury, who was,
about this time, United States Senator from Maine, when the great
men of the nation,—Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Douglas, Cass, and
others,—were discussing in the senate the constitutional and slavery
questions involved in the compromise measures.
It was a time and place where great historic interests centered. It had
been the scene of grave military operations, a fort and outposts on
the nation’s frontier, less than a hundred years before, had been
conspicuous in the French and Indian wars.
The mind of Blaine was not long, with his practical methods of
historic research, in threading out lines of history, entering the
labyrinths of knowledge of a mighty past, and a great and wondrous
present, boxing the compass historically, as it were, until he knew
the past and present of his adopted state, and of New England, as
he had known his native state.
He came with no beat of drum and blare of trumpet, but quietly, with
no parade or display, and went to work with good grace and strong
determination. He brought his capital with him. It had not been
embezzled, nor squandered, nor stolen. It was in a portable bank in
which he had been depositing his investments, or investing his
deposits, steadily for nearly twenty years. Already he had drawn
compound interest, and yet, unlike air, water or money, the more he
drew, the more there was on deposit, bright and clear with the polish
of the mint. He had invested in solid, reliable knowledge and
education. He had taken stock in James G. Blaine, taught and
trained him to think, to know, to talk, to write, and act. There is
always a demand for just such men. Communities want them, the
state and nation wants them. From the distant South, explored and
carefully surveyed and estimated, he had come to the farthermost
North and East, and here for life his home is to be.
VI.
JOURNALISM.
T was not the policy of Mr. Blaine to undertake a work for

which he was not specially fitted. General adaptation and
preparation were not enough; he must be master of the
situation or not at all, so he did not sit down in the editorial
chair at once. He was among a new people. He must know them.
His paper was published at the state capital. He must know the
state. He must know it politically, socially, morally, educationally,
religiously. This required extensive travel. He must understand the
demands of the people, their character and temperament.
The Kennebec Journal had not yet risen to that standard of
circulation and of excellence, its position warranted and required. In
the words of one thoroughly conversant with its affairs, “The paper
was badly run down.” It was the opposition paper, and had long been
what, in common parlance is known as “the under dog in the fight.”
There was the largest opportunity for the display of the new editor’s
push and tact in business matters. To these two things, therefore,—
public acquaintance and business affairs,—he gave himself until
November, 1854.
About this time a turn came in the political tide, and William Pitt
Fessenden, “that good Whig,” was elected to the United States
senate, routing the Pillsbury Democracy. Governor Crosby and his
council were also Whigs.
Everything of a political character seemed highly favorable for the
best editorial work, just as after the war the highest statesmanship
was requisite to garner and perpetuate its results, crystalize its
victories, and thus secure their glory untarnished.
So now conservatism, power, and radical might,—the one to hold,
and the other to defend what had been gained,—were needful. It did
not take long to catch the spirit of the hour. Mr. Blaine had been
familiar with the fight from boyhood, and in the great campaign of
General Harrison had seen, upon a grander scale, a similar victory.
Now he was on the stage of action, in the responsibilities of life.
He had really entered the state in one of the happiest years,
politically, of her history. It was not until several years later that the
legislature of his old state of Pennsylvania defeated the express wish
of President Buchanan upon this same issue, and sent Gen. Simon
Cameron to the senate in place of Mr. Buchanan’s selected
candidate, John W. Forney. This, at the time, was said to be one of
the most severe blows his administration could receive.
In Maine it was the voice of the people against the nefarious attempt
to fasten slavery upon the territories, and against the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise. Then the opponents of slavery were not all
abolitionists. They were rather restrictionists. In an address delivered
by Henry Ward Beecher about this time, he makes these two points,
—
First.—“We must hedge in slavery as far as possible.”
Second.—“Ameliorate the condition of the blacks to the extent of our
ability.”
There were, indeed, abolitionists then, red hot, just as there are
prohibitionists now, and as events have proved, they were the
vanguard of Vicksburg and Gettysburgh, where there were no
compromises of the Missouri, or any other kind, and no Mason and
Dixon’s line, but lines of battle. And in the one case the words
“surrender of slaves,” written with bayonets dipped in blood, and in
the other, resounding from cannon and battle charge, the only
alternative, “give in or go under.”
But the great political battles were being fought now, not to kill men,
but to save them, and to avert, if possible, the dread arbitrament of
civil war with its consequences, more dire than pen could write or
tongue could tell. It was a time for greatest wisdom and loftiest
courage.
Political life was the life of a soldier, and the political field a field of
battle, as the assault upon Charles Sumner and Horace Greeley, at
the nation’s capital testify.
No wonder the wise and prudent Pennsylvanian surveyed the field
with great deliberation, and gained the fullest possible knowledge of
the situation ere he balanced his spear for its first lunge. It was but
the putting on of his full armor ere the soldier enters the fray. It was
no business venture or financial investment merely, but rather the
solemn dedication of himself to the nation’s weal.
Then and there the public career begins that has brought him to this
hour. It is a career of alternate wildest storm and serenest sunshine.
There were at this time, practically, four parties in Maine, and two
great questions, both of them moral in character, namely:
Temperance and Slavery. The Democratic party was split into two
most radical sections, with slavery for their dividing line. Beside
these were the Whigs and Liberalists.
The birth-hour of the Republican party was near at hand. The
elements were in existence demanding organization. Already men in
sympathy with each other upon the great questions of the day in the
different parties and divisions had acted together upon occasions of
great political importance, as in the election of Mr. Fessenden, an
ardent Whig, to the senate. Anti-slavery men, of the Democratic
party, could and did vote for him. The nation demanded the man,
somewhat as to-day she demands another son of Maine. The New
York Tribune, in an issue prior to his election, said,—“The nation
wants him.” Not party names, but principles, ruled the hour.
Less than ninety days after Mr. Blaine, quill in hand, made his bow
on the 10th of November, 1854, to the people of Augusta and to the
state of Maine, the Republican party was in existence, a full-fledged
organization. Conventions had met a little earlier in Wisconsin and in
one of the counties of Maine for a similar purpose. Mr. Blaine was
with the movement, heart and soul. He was present at its birth, and
rejoiced in its existence. It had come into existence full of life and
power, as it had taken nearly all the life and power out of the other
parties.
It had taken a minority of the Democrats, a majority of the Whigs,
and all of the Anti-slavery or Liberty party. “Liberty national, Slavery
sectional,” was upon its shield. No one, of course, stopped to ask, in
the rejoicing of the hour, how in the name of reason liberty could be
national and slavery sectional. But they were organized for victory,
as right against wrong. How auspicious and full of promise that Mr.
Blaine should celebrate the twenty-fifth year of his remarkable life by
entrance with this party of progress and of power upon its marvelous
career, himself an integral part of it, and a power within it.
About this time John L. Stevens, a man of great good sense, takes
Mr. Baker’s place, a large law-practice demanding his attention, as
co-editor of the Journal. But Mr. Stevens is so occupied with the
details of party organization, that most of the editorial work at this
time falls to Mr. Blaine, and it shows great vigor and ability.
One who was associated with him intimately at this time, in
professional life, speaks of him as “a man of great natural and
acquired ability, and of adaptation, familiar with all questions of
government, with a remarkable facility for getting at the core of a
question, a man of genius and talent to a striking degree”; and as we
went over year after year of editorials, some of them very striking
and forceful in their headings, about the time the young party of
great men was fairly on its feet, and had become the target for rifle
shots from the enemy, the old man turned, and with that peculiar
emphasis which always comes with conviction of the truth, said, “He
always calculated to draw blood, if there was a tender spot.”
He invariably struck to demolish when fighting his great political
battles. There was no play about it, and none could doubt the moral
earnestness of the man. It was a battle of great moral ideas with him
all the way through.

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