Today, the canal is lined with plane trees, like many roads and squares in the South of France. But these trees were planted only a century or so ago. When the canal was built three hundred years ago, Riquet objected to plane trees, because their leaves, which do not decay rapidly, would soon clog up the canal. Now that the canal no longer plays an economic role, but attracts only tourist traffic, it does not need to be dredged frequently.