These include the 70th anniversary of the Moravský kras/Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area (PLA), the 50th anniversary of the České středohoří/Central Bohemian Uplands, Lužické hory/Lusatian Mts., Kokořínsko-Máchův kraj/Kokořín Region-Macha´s Country, and Pálava/Pavlov Hills PLAs, and ten years since the declaration of the Brdy PLA. The importance of Protected Landscape Areas for nature and for residents, local businesses, and visitors will therefore be highlighted throughout the year by a series of various events. They will take place under the title "Year of Protected Landscape Areas," supported by the Czech Commission for UNESCO.  

Protected Landscape Areas currently cover approx. 11,500 km2, or about 14.5 percent of the country's territory. Twenty-seven have been declared so far and are managed by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic (except for the Šumava/Bohemian Forest Mts. and Labské pískovce/Elbe Sandstones PLAs, which are the buffer zones of the respective National Parks). Together, they protect the best-preserved examples of landscapes—from lowlands to mountains—where people have been managing since time immemorial and left their unmistakable character.

“Protected Landscape Areas are part of our shared and common cultural heritage, just like cultural monuments. The sharp peaks and steppes of the volcanic České středohoří/Central Bohemian Uplands, the contours of the limestone Pálava/Pavlov Hills rock, the Macocha/Stepmother Abyss, and the Trosky ruins in the Český ráj/Bohemian Paradise are as much a part of our identity as the silhouette of Hradčany/Prague Castle, Smetana's symphonic poem Má vlast/My Homeland, or the Ride of the Kings at the village of Vlčnov in South Moravia, namely in Moravian Slovakia. That is why we have decided to highlight their importance. Not only are they islands of well-preserved nature, but they also serve as model areas for the long-term sustainable development of their economic use by agriculture, forestry, urban planning, and tourism," explains František Pelc, Director of the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic. 

Protected Landscape Areas are divided into four zones, the first and partly the second of which include fragments of various sizes of unique natural and semi-natural habitats, a kind of family silver – for example, mountain peat bogs with tundra vegetation, alpine meadows on the ridges of the Jeseníky Mountains, remnants of natural forests, karst phenomena with unique plant communities, floodplain forests in river valleys, fishponds with adjacent wetlands, and wet and flowerrich- meadows. They include treasures such as Velká kotlina/Great Basin Glacial Cirque, one of the most botanically rich sites in Central Europe, and the Jizerské hory/Jizera Mountains beech forests, part of the UNESCO World Heritage. In contrast, the third and fourth zones consist of commercially used forests and fields, towns and villages, which complete the preserved scenery of the cultural landscape.

“Already in January, pub quizzes are planned in the Kokořínsko-Máchův kraj/Kokořín Region and Mácha´s Country Protected Landscape Area and discussions in the Brdy Highlands PLA. We are preparing excursions, a conference focused on the Protected Landscape Areas management, and another on the landscape of mineral springs. There will also be exhibitions, competitions, and a number of events taking place in Houses of Nature and Visitor Centres in PLAs," adds František Pelc. 

Protected Landscape areas can be clustered into several groups of landscape phenomena. Areas dominated by sandstone rocks (Český ráj/Bohemian Paradise, Broumovsko/Broumov Region, Labské pískovce/Elbe Sandstones, Kokořínsko-Máchův kraj/Kokořín Region and Mácha´s Country PLAs), karst areas (Moravský kras/Moravian Karst, Český kras/Bohemian Karst, Pálava/Pavlov Hills PLAs), lowlands with floodplain forests and meadows (Litovelské Pomoraví/Litovel Morava River Basin, Poodří/Odra River Basin and Soutok/Confluence), hilly and highlands (Křivoklátsko/Křivoklát Region, Mt. Blaník, Železné hory/Iron Mountains, Brdy Highlands, Ždárské vrchy Hills, Lužické hory/Lusatian Mountains PLAs), mountains (e.g., Beskydy/Beskids Mountains., Jeseníky Mountains, Jizerské hory/Jizera Mountains and Orlické hory/Eagle Mountains, Šumava/Bohemian Forest Mountains, Český les Mountains, Blanský les Mountains, Bílé Karpaty/White Carpathians PLAs). The basins with a system of fishponds (Třeboňsko/Třeboň Basin PLA), volcanic hills with steppe grasslands and shrubs (České středohoří/Central Bohemian Uplands PLA) and the landscape of mineral springs (Slavkovský les/Slavkov Forest Mountains PLA) are completely unique. 

Photo: Pavel Gejdoš