Located between river and country, Couëron, which was the anchorage point of the estuary industrialization in the 19th century, is nowadays constantly evolving with about 20.000 inhabitants. Couëron has known how to take up with its river again on a long-term basis, and, from now on, it is part of the vitality of the estuary. It has a remarkable natural heritage with a green country, a lake, protected agricultural spaces and a marsh named Audubon after the world-famous naturalist painter Jean-Jacques Audubon, who grew up there. Former flooded lands that became pastures thanks to man’s labour, the marsh provides a habitat for more than 230 bird species, among which some are protected – grey herons, harriers, storks, teals, falcons, corncrakes… as well as around 700 plant species among which some are protected, like the angelica heterocarpa that can be admired alongside the Loire and along marsh creeks.
The front of the Loire River, with its fishing and recreational harbour, its public parks, its pedestrian promenades, its bicycle routes and its Liberté island, has become a place for recreation, activities and leisure highly appreciated by the inhabitants of Couëron of all ages but also by the inhabitants of the urban community of Nantes.
Also, on these riversides, is situated the former Tréfimétaux factory, with its beautiful “Tour à plomb”, listed as an Ancient Monument, and which will soon be converted into a cultural and community centre. As for the tourism and industrial know-how enthusiasts, they should appreciate the contemporary architecture of the Arc en Ciel factory (Véolia) of household refuse and industrial waste treatment.