Particularly protected areas
The valid Act on nature conservation and landscape protection no. 114/92 Gaz. introduces and defines the categories of particularly protected areas in §14. Categories occurring at TFE Křtiny are those of protected landscape area, national nature reserve, nature reserve, national nature monument and nature monument.
Protected landscape area is understood as an extensive area with the harmonically formed landscape, characteristic relief, significant share of natural forest ecosystems and ecosystems of permanent grasslands, with abundant representation of tree species and/or with preserved remainders of historical settlement.
National nature reserve is a smaller area of extraordinary natural value in which the natural relief with a typical geological structure binds ecosystems of high importance and unique character on the national or international scale.
Nature reserve is a smaller area of concentrated nature values with a representation of ecosystems typical of and important for the concrete geographical region.
National nature monument is a natural formation of a smaller size –usually geological or geomorphological-, deposit of minerals or rare/endangered species in ecosystem fragments, of national or international ecological, scientific or aesthetic importance, even such a formation that was created by humans together with nature.
Nature monument is a formation of smaller size –usually geological or geomorphological-, finding place of rare minerals or endangered species in ecosystem fragments, of regional ecological, scientific or aesthetic importance, even such a formation that was created by humans.
Large-scale particularly protected areas at TFE Křtiny
The Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area
An area of 2,944.77 ha in the central section of TFE Křtiny from Hády through Kanice, Babice nad Svitavou up to rudice belongs in the Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area; of these 528.38 ha fall in
- Zone 1 while 1,901.78 ha and
- 514.61 ha belong in Zone 2 and
- Zone 3, respectively
Small-scale particularly protected areas at TFE Křtiny
TFE Křtiny of MZLU Brno includes 19 small-scale particularly protected areas as follows:
- 3 national nature reserves (355.31 ha),
- 13 nature reserves (495.63 ha),
- 1 national nature monument (3.72 ha),
- 2 nature monuments (8.32 ha).
According to the FMP for the TFE Křtiny working-plan area in 2003-2012 a total area of these small-scale PPAs amounts to 862.98 ha.
Forests of natural species composition have been carefully managed at the Training Forest Enterprise Masaryk Forest Křtiny of Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno in cooperation with the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology (or Faculty of Forestry at the then University of Agriculture Brno) on the basis of the precise mapping of natural conditions and a subsequent preparation of Forest Management Plan since the very beginning of the Enterprise in 1923. All these works were in line with the conceptions of applied by previous excellent forest managers such as Leopold Grabner and Julius Wiehl.
This was a good base for the development of particularly protected areas in the forest training farm, and the targeted efforts of foresters and scientists was crowned by the work of Prof. Alois Zlatník who established a network of nature reserves there, at present days the only network of nature reserves preserved in the Czech Republic and in Central Europe.
The above facts document not only the unique character of the special-purpose facility of the university, but pinpoint a need of the further protection and enhancement of these areas and their study. This is why the small-scale particularly protected areas are left to own spontaneous development with minimum interventions in them being focused in compliance with valid plans of conservation only on the reduction of coniferous and non-authochthonous tree species, which makes them acquire the character of virgin forests.
The small-scale protected areas are accessible for visitors only via marked tourist foot trails the entry into them being otherwise strictly prohibited to public including the picking of forest fruits or timber felling and slash collection.