The Brdy Protected Landscape Area is a protected territory in central Bohemia, declared as of 1 January 2016 on the territory of the Central Bohemian and Plzeň Regions.
The Brdy Protected Landscape Area extends over the central and southern Brdy, on the border of the Central Bohemian and Plzeň Region. It is the highest upland in central Bohemia, with elevations ranging between 410 and 865 metres [2]. The protected landscape area was declared on 1 January 2016 [1][2][3].
History
Nature protection in the Brdy was already being considered shortly after the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia, when a proposal to declare a national park was submitted in 1920 [1]. At the time, state security took priority, and a military training area was therefore set up in the Brdy in 1926 [1]. The military district, which occupied two thirds of the future protected territory, existed here in various forms until 2015 [1][3]. According to the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, what at first seemed unfavourable for the region became its added value, because the limited public access during military use helped preserve an undeveloped landscape [1]. Thanks to this, a protected landscape area could be declared from 2016 right in the middle of Bohemia, an hour's journey from Prague [1].
Nature and landscape
The Brdy are characterised by ten peaks higher than 800 metres above sea level [2]. They have a cool and humid submontane to montane climate [2]. According to the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, the coldest places paradoxically are not on the hilltops but on the wooded northern slopes and in shaded valleys cooled by streams [2]. Such places are a refuge for mountain species of plants and animals that arrived here from the mountains during the last ice age and, after the subsequent warming, could no longer retreat [2]. For this reason the area is described as an island of mountain nature in the middle of Bohemia [2][3]. The territory is overwhelmingly forested, with only small islands of treeless land, and the soils are poor in nutrients, cold and wet [3]. The entire territory is only minimally settled [3]. Characteristic natural features include extensive heathlands, which according to the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic are the most extensive in the Czech Republic [1], as well as vast forests without road traffic and bare plains bearing traces of vanished settlement [1].
Protection and management
Nature and landscape protection in the Brdy Protected Landscape Area is carried out by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic through the Protected Landscape Area Administration [3]. Its activities include state administration in the field of nature and landscape protection, care for valuable sites, and monitoring of species of interest and their occurrence in the territory [3]. The protected landscape area contains 15 small-scale specially protected areas, of which 7 are nature reserves and 8 natural monuments [2]. Before the protected landscape area was established, there were two memorial trees in the Brdy; since its declaration, eight more have been added [3]. The territory is divided into four zones of graded protection, from Zone I, protecting the most valuable sites, to Zone IV, comprising ordinary managed landscape [2][3]. Most of the protected landscape area is in fact covered by ordinary managed forest [3].
Tourism
According to the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, the Brdy Protected Landscape Area is sought out by hikers and cyclists as an opportunity to experience nature away from civilisation, since it is an island of mountain forested nature almost without settlement and public roads [1][3]. Visitors are guided through the landscape by hiking trail markings, and educational trails introduce them to the history of the territory [1]. In the grounds of the Tři trubky hunting lodge stands the House of Nature of the Brdy, which presents the protected landscape area, its specific features and natural and historical points of interest [1].