Biography

 

His parents, rich and influential farmers, could afford to send him to classes at École des Ponts et Chaussées.He began his career in Toulon as a professor of drawing and mathematics at the Artillery School in 1762 and then held various positions as a sub-engineer in Bordeaux and Caen, then in Brittany headed navigation courses for linking the Vilaine and Rance Rivers.In 1784, as chief engineer for the province of Guyenne, he left his mark in the range of his achievements, from draining the marshes to building roads and bridges, but above all by what he did in this region to prevent the advance of the sand dunes that threatened the existence of houses and villages.Drawing on his extensive knowledge of agriculture and mineralogy, he came up with the idea of planting maritime pine seedlings to bind the dunes, drawing on the work done in the early 18th century by Jean-Baptiste de Ruat in Captal de Buch.He conducted the initial trials in 1787 in the La Teste region, protecting the seedlings from the sand and wind by palisades and wattle fences.When the process proved successful, he gradually extended its application to the whole coast between the Gironde and the Adour.This seeding activity continued until 1876, covering 88,000 hectares.Through his innovative initiatives and perseverance, which initially aroused a degree of criticism and scepticism, Nicolas Brémontier not only saved the region from the sand dunes, but also gave it one of Europe’s biggest and most productive forests, restoring life to an area threatened with desertification.He died in 1809 of tuberculosis.

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