1JZGauQ

AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
pers. comm. 12 th October). This has created toxic conditions, not only for
the vegetation but also for the park rangers that now look after the park and
it is only very recently that it has been possible to plant new trees here. The
rangers now take great care to plant and protect trees in these areas in order
to erase these low vegetation corridors. An interesting phenomenon has
occurred as a result of this in one section of the former double fence line in
the park. In sections between the towns of Podmyče and Vranov nad Dyji a
new double fence now follows almost exactly in the same line as the former
militarised fences, only this time the fence is constructed out of wood and
its purpose is to keep animals from eating the new trees, stunting their
growth (Figure 65). A dividing fence has now become a protective one. In
most sections along the former fence line, however, typically demonstrates
an approximately 3–4 m wide corridor of younger trees and lower vegetation
compared to the ones growing beyond it.
Figure 65: A protective double fencing around newly planted trees in a corridor of stunted tree
growth along the former fence line caused by pesticides. Photo: Anna McWilliams 2010.
The militarised border and the infrastructure that was required to keep it
going took advantage of the former layout of the park and used some of the
paths and roads that already crossed the landscape. The fence line followed
to a large extent already existing roads such as the old road between Vranov
nad Dyji to Čižov as well as the former road between Čižov and Lukov. That
148