Krkonoše National Park is a protected area in the Krkonoše mountains, declared in 1963. On the Polish side of the mountains, Karkonosze National Park was established as early as 1959.[2]
Administration and mission
According to its own definition, the mission of the Krkonoše National Park Administration is to care for the preservation and improvement of the environment in the territory entrusted to it. This includes protecting or restoring the functions by which natural systems regulate themselves, consistently protecting the Krkonoše flora and fauna, and preserving the typical appearance of the landscape. It is also to fulfil scientific and educational goals and to use the Krkonoše for ecologically sustainable tourism and recreation that does not degrade the environment.[1]
Human influences
Humans have affected the natural conditions of the Krkonoše for more than eight centuries. The foothills were settled in the 12th to 14th centuries, followed by medieval mining of minerals, mainly ores of iron, copper, arsenic and silver. Mining and smelting enterprises brought rapid growth of settlements in the mountains.[2]
Glassmaking was important in the 16th and 17th centuries. Ore mining and glass production led to uncontrolled use of the mountain forests. After timber extraction moved to neighbouring mountains, the highlanders turned to farming, cattle grazing and hay harvesting. The look of the Krkonoše was markedly changed by the bouda economy (budní hospodářství), based on mountain huts, which lasted from the 17th to the 19th century; permanently treeless enclaves appeared and tourism gradually developed. Tourism spread most around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and its excessive growth caused marked damage to nature. The threat to natural values led to protective measures, which culminated in the declaration of national parks on both sides of the mountains.[2]
Geology
The Krkonoše are a very old mountain range whose foundations date from the Proterozoic. The complex geological structure documents most of the great geological events in this part of Europe from the Proterozoic to the present.[3]
The oldest rocks are metamorphosed crystalline schists from the Neoproterozoic, namely mica schists, orthogneisses, greenschists, and also crystalline limestones, amphibolites and quartzites. Mica schists occur most frequently, together with orthogneisses. Sediments such as sandstones, conglomerates, shales and limestones originate in the Paleozoic, as do metamorphosed phyllites, dolomites, hornfels and greenschists. At the end of the Paleozoic, magma then penetrated the crystalline schists and formed the body of the Krkonoše granite. The granite massif makes up the larger part of the Polish Krkonoše, roughly a fifth of the Czech Krkonoše and the predominant part of the Jizera Mountains.[3]