The Jizerské hory Protected Landscape Area covers the Jizera Mountains and their foothills in northern Bohemia and was declared effective 1 January 1968.
The Jizerské hory Protected Landscape Area extends over the Jizera Mountains and their foothills, excluding the Černostudniční ridge, roughly between the towns of Liberec, Frýdlant, Nové Město pod Smrkem, Kořenov, Tanvald and Jablonec nad Nisou. In the east it reaches the Polish border and neighbours Krkonoše National Park [2]. The elevation of the area ranges from 317 to 1,124 metres [1].
History
The protected landscape area was declared on 1 January 1968 [1]. Water management in the area has older roots: between 1903 and 1928 four reservoirs were built here, Bedřichov, Fojtka, Mšeno and Rudolfov, intended as flood protection [1]. In 1915 the construction of two earth dams on the Bílá Desná and Černá Desná rivers, known as Souš, was completed, and one of them burst in 1916 with tragic consequences [1]. The Souš reservoir was later adapted to supply drinking water, and in 1982 the Josefův Důl reservoir on the Kamenice river was completed, which according to the source is the largest dam in the Jizera Mountains [1].
Geology and relief
The Jizera Mountains are a range of Paleozoic age, characterised by flat hilltops, plateaus, rounded ridges and wide valleys [1]. At the edges of the range there are steep slopes with young valleys formed by erosion [1]. Where granite meets crystalline schists in the northern foothills, weakly mineralised springs occur in a narrow belt of mica schist; they are calcium bicarbonate carbonated waters with a varying content of ferrous ions, found in Lázně Libverda and near Nové Město pod Smrkem [1].
Waters
The area has a dense river network and, according to the source, exceptionally large natural reserves of surface water [1]. The direction of the watercourses is determined by the geological structure of the range: to the north the streams fall steeply into the Frýdlant Uplands and cut into rocky, boulder-strewn gorges with waterfalls and cascades, for example in the valley of the Černý potok or of the Velký and Malý Štolpich [1]. To the south the range descends in steps and more gently, so the valleys there are neither as steep nor as deeply incised [1]. Most watercourses rise in raised bogs on the high plateau, so the upper sections of the streams have a gentler gradient than the middle sections, where headward erosion is already at work [1]. According to the source, extensive forests and peat bogs are essential for the water regime of the area [1].
Flora
The flora of the Jizera Mountains is poorer than that of the neighbouring Krkonoše; there is no subalpine zone and the main natural vegetation type is forest [1]. Natural treeless areas occur only in extreme places: on the scree of the highest peaks, on active peat bogs, in some wetlands and on natural bodies of water [1]. Before human settlement the mountains were covered for the most part by fir-beech primeval forests with an admixture of wych elm and sycamore maple, and the highest elevations by climax spruce forests, preserved today only in fragments [1]. On the northern slopes mixed stands dominated by beech have survived, where, for example, perennial honesty, mezereon and alpine blue sow-thistle grow, and rarely Turk's cap lily and fir clubmoss [1]. In the remnants of the original spruce forests there are alpine coltsfoot, clasping-leaved twisted-stalk and alpine lady-fern [1]. A special locality is the hill of Bukovec with a basalt bedrock, where both mountain species, oměj šalamounek and willow gentian, and warmth-loving plants of the uplands, yellow anemone, coralroot, hollowroot and Corydalis intermedia, grow [1]. The peat bogs have retained their original communities with dwarf mountain pine, bog bilberry, bog rosemary, cranberry and crowberry [1].
Places in the area
The highest mountain of the Czech part of the Jizera Mountains is Smrk, 1,124 metres above sea level, where according to the source a new lookout tower has recently opened and where a border crossing to Poland is located [2]. The second highest is Jizera (1,122 m), from whose summit rocks there is a view of the Jizera plateau, and the path to the summit leads through a former primeval forest [2]. Around Jizera lie the peat bogs of Klečové louky and Na Čihadle and the more distant Černá hora [2]. The settlement of Jizerka links scattered buildings with natural sites, the basalt mountain of Bukovec and the Jizerka peat bog [2]. In Hejnice stands the Baroque Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary with a Franciscan monastery, together with preserved houses with half-timbered upper storeys, and from there trails lead to the rock viewpoints of the Jizera Mountains Beech Forests, Ořešník, Frýdlantské cimbuří and Paličník [2]. Oldřichov v Hájích is the starting point for the Jizera Mountains Beech Forests and for villages with preserved folk architecture, and the Oldřichovské háje a skály educational trail leads from there across Lysé skály, Skalní hrad and Špičák [2]. In Jedlový důl old beech stands with spruce and fir have survived, and an educational trail runs along the Jedlová stream up to a waterfall [2].
Nature House
The administration of the protected landscape area runs the Jizera Mountains Nature House in Oldřichov v Hájích, with an exhibition titled "Jizerky všemi smysly" ("Jizerky through all the senses"), which according to the source introduces visitors to the nature of the Jizera Mountains and provides information on tourist sites and events in the area [2].