The Jura massif

A massive rich peatlands

The Franco-Swiss Jura mountains is one of the richest bog areas in western Europe. More than 400 peatlands, representing around 4000 ha, are located on the whole massif, among them 247 in Franche-Comté (2600 ha). Within the latter, 162 peatlands are included within the Natura 2000 sites network (2050 ha).

The peatbogs in the Franche-Comté part of Jura are spread between 800 and 1200 m of altitude, along approximately 150 km from north to south, as an archipelago of around 25 km wide. Their main feature is linked to their development on limestone karstic field. Therefore, unlike northern peatbogs, they are of small size (10 ha on average), but arranged in a dense geographic network that allows biological exchanges.