Field Trips

The Šumava NP (established in 1991; 68,064 ha), is the largest national park in the Czech Republic, and together with the Bavarian Forest NP, a transboundary partner, constitutes the largest cross-border forested protected area in Central Europe. It is also the largest Natura 2000 site in the country; 9 bird species are protected in SPA Šumava and 21 habitats of Annex I of Habitats Directive together with 11 species of Annex II of Habitats Directive are protected in SCI Šumava.Forests together with peat bogs, glacial lakes and mountain meadows are the most important habitats in this area. This transboundary area is also home to several iconic species, such as lynx, wolf, moose, capercaillie or freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera), each of which now occurs in few viable populations in Central Europe.

We will meet on Saturday evening to get to know each other and prepare for a Sunday day field trip. On Sunday morning, we will start in the Czech-Austrian-Bavarian tri-border region, where old-growth montane spruce forests occur. Natural disturbances (windstorms, bark beetle outbreaks) strongly affected this area during the last decades and we can talk about different management concepts (non-intervention in CZ, logging in A), old-growth forests, natural regeneration of spruceforests, capercaillies etc. A border trail brings at the Pleckenstein (1374 m a.s.l.) from where from where we descend to the shore of the glacial lake (LTER site) and we will continue through montane mixed forests to the Upper Vltava Valley (large wetland complex, pearl mussel habitat). On Monday, we will talk about restoration projects and visit a restored peat bog. We will come back to Prague on Monday afternoon.

Sunday trip 19 km, natural trail + forest road

Accommodation will be provided in this hotel
(full board = breakfasts, lunches and dinners provided)
https://www.kristian1000.cz

Price: 280 EUR (7000 CZK) in double room, supplement for single room + 2000 CZK (80 EUR)

Date: Saturday, 20^th August, 4 PM (16:00) - Monday, 22^nd August, 4 PM (16:00)
Intructions for this trip

Located near the towns of Milovice and Benátky nad Jizerou, this nature reserve is a pioneering rewilding project of cooperation between several scientific bodies. Milovice Nature Reserve is the first and only place in Europe where visitors can see Aurochs, European bison, and wild horses together. After Milovice Nature Reserve you will visit a stable population of European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) near Mladá Boleslav.

Box lunch will be provided.

Date: Monday, 22^nd August,
8 AM (8:00) - 4 PM (16:00), Last vacancies
Intructions for this trip

New Date: , 27^th August,
8 AM (8:00) - 4 PM (16:00)
Intructions for this trip

This wide opencast coal-mining area in the northwest of Bohemia is called the “Black triangle”. In this area are interesting examples of large scale landscape remodelling, devastation, the succession stages of spoil banks, and the protection and management of succession areas. The visit to Krušné hory provides a chance to see large forest area that died due to acid rain, forest regeneration, and replacement tree species. d chapel of All Saints Cemetery with chambers for storinghuman bones.

On the way back we will stop in Central Bohemian Uplands (České středohoří) PLA. It is a mountain complex of volcanic origin and a thermophilic grassland area. You will see different management regimes, a LIFE project for six species, and also the problem linked with building a motorway through this valuable protected area.

Box lunch will be provided.

Date: Monday, 22^nd August, 8 AM (8:00) - 4 PM (16:00)
Intructions for this trip

We will visit the Prokop Valley (Prokopské údolí), which is one of the most beautiful natural areas occurring in Prague. It is located quite close to the city centre. The importance of this nature reserve lies in the occurrence of xerothermic grasslands (steppes) and the communities of plants and insects living there. You will see not only beautiful nature, but also spectacular views of the city and the Vltava river valley. We will introduce to you several conservation projects thatare ran by the Insect Ecology Group (www.fzp.czu.cz/insectecology) in the Prokop Valley and its surroundings. Here, in 2018, we reintroduced the locally extinct Chapman's blue butterfly (Polyommatus thersites). We are also monitoring the largest Central European population of rock grayling (Hipparchia semele) that lives in the Prokop Valley. In addition, we will show you the places where one of the rarest Czech diurnal butterflies, the eastern baton blue (Pseudophilotes vicrama) occurs. During the trip we will see traditional management actions,which are carried out in the nature reserve, and we will end the whole excursion with a late lunch in the local mini-brewery Prokopák (www.pivovar-prokopak.cz).

What you will need: snack, something to drink, off-road shoes, butterfly net

The length of the walking route is about 5 km (low/medium difficulty)

Date: Monday, 22^nd August, 8 AM (8:00) - 4 PM (16:00)
Intructions for this trip

This National Park lies on the Czech side of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, north of Děčín, on both sides of the Elbe River. A wonderful landscape of the sandstone in the north of Bohemia. It was the sea’s sand bed that gave birth to the phenomenal world of sandstone after the sea receded; a world of rock towers, bridges and gates, a world full of miraculous stone shapes, gorges, streams and rivers.

Box lunch will be provided.

Date: Saturday, 27^th August, 8 AM (8:00) - 8 PM (20:00)
Intructions for participants

Fully booked