The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
Frýdlantsko and the Northern Jizerské hory Mountains
The work of the Society for the Jizera Mountains, the Frýdlantsko Association and other civic
associations illustrates the important role of NGOs in encouraging sustainable economic
development within a protected landscape.
The Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape (CHKO-Jizerské hory) is a protected area of
368km 2 designated in 1967. The most valuable ecosystems preserved up until now are mixed
beech forest on the steep northern slopes of the mountains, and also unique peat-bog remnants
on the top plateau of the protected landscape (around 1000m above sea level). There are some
30 nature reserves, natural monuments and other designations of varying sizes within the pro -
tected landscape. The area is rich in cultural as well as natural heritage. The mountain landscape
is complemented by agricultural land-use in the foothills and by the unique local architecture.
The Jizera Mountains Protected Landscape Area (PLA) is located in the Frýdlantsko region,
in the northernmost tip of the Czech Republic, an area surrounded on three sides by the Polish
border, with the German border not far away. The Jizerské hory Mountains act as an imposing
natural barrier, which separates the region from the rest of the Czech Republic to the south.
Frýdlantsko comprises the foothills of the most valuable part of Jizerské hory Mountains – the
deep beech woodlands of the northern slopes – and opens out onto the Luice (Lausitzer)
Lowlands.
However, the area is threatened by environmental problems, including air pollution and acid
rain due to burning brown coal in surrounding power plants in the Czech Republic, Poland and
Germany. These air quality problems, which date back to the 1950s, have had a devastating
impact on the region’s forests, and particularly its fragile montane ecosystems. A major portion
of the forest ecosystems (originally mixed forest re-planted as spruce mono cultures during the
18th century) have declined due to air pollution and acid rain. Other problems include depletion
of soil and water quality due to agricultural chemicals, and flooding of rivers, as upland forests
are reduced. Today the quality of the region’s environment is slowly improving, with the
shutting down of the neighbouring power plants.
Restoration of the region’s dead and dying forests is one of the major challenges facing the
management of the Protected Landscape Area. Other challenges including maintaining ex -
tensive agriculture in the buffer zones of the PLA and regulating tourism pressures.
There are 24,500 permanent residents living in 18 communities in the Frýdlantsko region,
the largest of which is Frýdlant with about 8,000 inhabitants. In the past Frýdlantsko had been a
rich region, with successful agriculture and a textile industry, benefiting from the easy
connection to the Lužice region in the north. However, most of the original German inhabitants
were forced to leave after World War II in 1945 and the border became a barrier, with the result
that the historical land-use patterns (e.g., agriculture and forestry) were interrupted. Today, the
region faces many economic and social problems due to the closing of its textile factories, the
collapse of agriculture, and a high unemployment rate (above 20% in some communities).
Among much of the population, education levels, job training and employment qualifications
are low, and many young people are leaving the region in search of new opportunities.
Since 1989 many NGOs have emerged in the region, several of them focused on environ -
mental issues. The Foundation for the Jizera Mountains, probably the most important of them,
was established in 1993. The Foundation has worked in close cooperation with the PLA
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