The Orlické hory Protected Landscape Area is a territory declared in 1970 to protect the nature and landscape of the border mountain range above the course of the Divoká Orlice.
The Orlické hory Protected Landscape Area lies in a border mountain range arching above the course of the Divoká Orlice, at an elevation of 416 to 1,115 metres [1]. The northern and eastern boundary of the area is formed by the state border with the Republic of Poland. The area lies within the Hradec Králové Region, with a smaller part in the south extending into the Pardubice Region [1]. In terms of size, it ranks among the smaller protected landscape areas in the Czech Republic [1]. The protected landscape area was declared in 1970 [1].
Nature and landscape
The mountain landscape is interwoven with the springs of small streams and rivulets, a mosaic of peat bogs, flower-rich wet meadows, mountain grasslands, pastures and forests [1]. The source states that the area has a rich population of Bohemian gentian (Gentianella praecox subsp. bohemica), a Central European endemic for which a rescue programme is being carried out in the Czech Republic [1]. The protected landscape area has the spring snowflake on its emblem, and extensive stands of it are found here [2]. From a distance the Orlické hory appear as a uniform part of the wooded rampart of Bohemia, but up close, according to the source, the landscape is picturesquely varied, with a flat ridge without prominent peaks and deep valleys full of torrents and rivulets [2]. Other natural features are mountain meadows, peat bogs and submontane matgrass grasslands [2].
Nature conservation
The area contains 21 small-scale specially protected areas, namely two national nature reserves, 13 nature reserves and six natural monuments [1]. The oldest of them, the Černý Důl Nature Reserve, was declared in 1933 [1]. The Orlické hory Protected Landscape Area overlaps entirely with the Orlické hory Protected Area of Natural Water Accumulation (CHOPAV), declared in 1978 [1]. Within the European Natura 2000 network, the Orlické Záhoří bird area and five sites of community importance have been designated here [1]. One of them is the Zaorlicko site in the floodplain of the border river Divoká Orlice, which is adjoined by the Polish site Dzika Orlica [1].
Historical development of the landscape
The development of the landscape and the state of nature in the Orlické hory was influenced by the use of natural resources for various kinds of production, for example glassmaking, textile workshops and mining [1]. In the 1930s a system of military fortifications was built here, which has since largely become part of the forest [1]. A decisive milestone for the development of the landscape was the post-war expulsion of Czech Germans and the subsequent large-scale afforestation of unused agricultural land [1]. In the 1970s and 1980s extensive land drainage and consolidation of plots took place [1]. In the 1980s an air-pollution calamity caused a large-scale collapse of mountain forest stands, and the original forests were in several places replaced by non-native trees such as mountain pine or blue spruce [1]. According to the source, recent years have seen efforts to restore the natural water regime of the landscape and a composition of mountain forests closer to nature [1].
Cultural monuments
According to the source, the Orlické hory also bear a legacy of the past in the form of the ruins of Gothic castles, military fortifications from the 1930s, the reconstructed pilgrimage church in Neratov and the chapel of St. Anne relocated to the hamlet of Hadinec [1]. The glassmaking history of the area is commemorated by the Deštné glass-melting festivals using wood fuel [1].
Hiking trails
The territory of the protected landscape area is crossed by a marked long-distance hiking trail called Jiráskova cesta, which is 42 kilometres long within the protected landscape area and runs along the main ridge of the mountains [2]. It enters the area in Zelené údolí near Olešnice v Orlických horách, from where it climbs to the lookout tower on Vrchmezí [2]. Near the Czech-Polish border it leads through the Bukačka National Nature Reserve and, near the lookout tower on Velká Deštná, at an elevation of 1,115 metres, it follows the boundary of the Jelení lázeň Nature Reserve [2]. The trail then passes the natural monument U Kunštátské kaple, the Komáří vrch Nature Reserve, the Černý důl Nature Reserve and the natural monument Rašeliniště pod Předním vrchem, and its end within the protected landscape area runs through the Zemská brána Nature Reserve [2]. The area is also crossed by four educational trails accompanied by information panels and, in some places, interactive elements for children [2]. Most of the information panels are installed only from spring to autumn to prevent their damage during winter, with the exception of the educational trail in the Zemská brána Nature Reserve, which is installed all year round [2].