On Nature in the Czech Republic

Nature Conservation 3/2008 — 24. 6. 2008 — On Nature in the Czech Republic

The Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area

author: Jiří Hušek

The Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area was declared in the northernmost mountain range of the Czech Republic in 1968, covering approx. 368 km2.

At present, it includes 26 other Specially Protected Areas: among them, the Jizerskohorské bučiny/Jizera Mts. Beech Forests National Nature Reserve harbours one of the largest and best preserved beech forests in the Czech Republic. The area is managed by the Jizera Mts. Protected Landscape Area Administration, seated in Liberec and being a part of the Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic. The Jizera Mts. are formed mostly by acid granite bedrock, on which flat soils poor in nutrients have been developed. Due to extremely harsh (both cold and wet) climate, extensive peat-bogs have evolved there. Southern slopes are not steep, while northern rock hills fall steeply into the Frýdlant region. The village of Jizerka with the basalt dome called Mt. Bukovec and a precious and semi-precious stone finding-place is a real geological unique. Three quarters of the area are covered by forests with the pronounced vegetation zones and high wild plant richness. From a point of view of botany, the peat-bogs are particularly significant, providing a lot of glacial relics with suitable habitats. The wild animal species diversity is also high, i.a., typical mountain species should be mentioned. Recent invertebrate surveys have discovered species which have not been known for science yet. The Jizera Mts. had been largely changed by industrial development, in the second half of the 20th century spruce plantation­­s on the plain heavily suffered from air pollution and forest management under the communist regime and they were cleared on the large-scale. Since the 1990s, forests have been restored in co-operation between foresters and nature conservationists. The cultural landscape with a mosaic of pastures and meadows, folk architecture and historical industrial buildings is also valuable. The Jizera Mts. are a natural setting for big cities, including Polish and German ones. Therefore, pressure for their leisure and sport use has been high, resulting in conflicts with the State Nature Conservancy. Keeping the reasonable balance between nature conservation and other public interests is the main aim of the Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area Administration and other public administration bodies there.