Slavkov Forest

The ancient and heavily eroded mountain range is home to a diverse range of habitats, plants and animals. The southwestern parts holds extensive raised bogs, a peculiar habitat with rare plants like bilberry willow trees (Salix myrtilloides) and the carnivorous round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) and common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris). Woodlands cover more than half of the protection, and they are dominated by spruce, with only small remnants of the original beech forest left. The various rock types of the eroded mountains each hosts unique ecosystems. Where serpentinite rock dominates for example, relicts of old-growth scots pine woods can be found in a mix with interesting plants like spleenwort ferns, including serpentine spleenwort (Asplenium cuneifolium), and flowering herbs such as winter heath (Erica carnea), box-leaved milkwort (Polygala chamaebuxus), and the rare sandwort-leaved mouse-ear (Cerastium alsinifolium) that only grows in these forests. In the glades and open areas of the forest, several types of orchids and herbs are also found, including the fragrant, and bright yellow, symbol of the Slavkov Forest Protected Area: mountain arnica (Arnica montana).[2][3][4][5]

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  Deciduous woods (Žižkův vrch nature reserve)
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  Conifer dominates most parts of the forests
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  Scots pine remain in some areas
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  Spleenwort ferns
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  Mountain arnica
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  Sandwort-leaved mouse-ear

The fauna is also diverse, but mostly with well-known animals such as deer, wild boar and several types of martens, but also wood grouse and ground squirrel, the westernmost location of this particular species. Birds are abundant, including birds of prey and owls in unusual large numbers. Woodpeckers, such as the great spotted woodpecker, might be heard from mid-winter till summer, and the migratory black storks, are regular breeders in the forest.[2][3]

The forest has suffered several human disturbances with lasting effects in the last 150 years or so. Because of the soil composition and local geology, tree growth is innately slow in most parts of the forest, and this makes it more difficult than usual for the forests here to recover from any damage or disturbance.

In 1874 to 1894, mono-plantations with European spruce were introduced to some parts, and even-aged spruce woods are still here today. The spruce are not doing well in areas with serpentinite rocks, which leaves safe spaces for the original scots pine. In the 1970s and 1980s, the northwestern parts of Czech Republic was badly affected by atmospheric deposition of sulphur. The sulphur is naturally transformed to sulfuric acid, commonly known as acid rain, and this is toxic to plants, and to a lesser degree animals. Visitors to the area, also inevitably bring in plants and seeds foreign to the original habitat, and some of these new ruderal plants can outcompete local species. In modern times, the tree growth is also stressed from deer and muflon foraging on young trees.[5][3]