Natural places of interest

HOŘOVICE DIVISION (Brdy military district)

The Hořovice division mainly includes the territory of Brdy (Brdská Highlands), 70 km southwest of Prague. The woods managed by the Hořovice division belong to the natural forestlands of Brdy Highlands. VLS ČR, s.p. manages 22,792 ha out of the total area of approx. 26 thousand ha of forest land. The highest peaks of Tok (865 meters above seal level) and Praha (862 meters above sea level) are dominants pf Brdy. Horní and Dolní Padrťský Ponds are bodies of water with the main multipurpose significance of functioning as water retention, reducing flood waves, and also serving for breeding quality fish. Protected areas declared outside the military district include:

Křivoklátsko landscape park – declared by Order no. 21972/1978 of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Socialist Republic of 24 November 1978 on an area of 628 square meters; the territory managed by VLS ČR, s.p. has an area of 1,803 ha.
Nature reserve Prokopské Valley
Natural monument Pod starým hradem with a paleontological habitat of trilobites.
Natural monument Ostrov u Jedomělic with an important habitat of dictamnus.
Natural monument Ve Šperkotně is a hygrophilous locality with the occurrence of the adder's-tongue ferns.
Křivoklátsko special protection area, which includes only part of the Nouzov forestry unit (approximately 460 ha) and was delimited by Government Regulation No. 684/2004 Sb., of 8 December 2004, effective 31 December 2004. The special protection area protects the population of the following species – European honey buzzard, Eurasian eagle-owl, Eurasian pygmy owl, common kingfisher, grey-headed woodpecker, middle spotted woodpecker, red-breasted flycatcher and collared flycatcher, and their biotopes.

HORNÍ PLANÁ DIVISION (Boletice military district)

The division mainly manages the territory of the Boletice military district (the forestry offices of Arnoštov, Chvalšiny and Horní Planá, and the agricultural office of Květušín) in the southwestern part of Šumava on lands of 20,458 ha, including 15,881 ha in the Boletice military district (21,953 ha). In addition to the military district, we manage the forestry unit of Bližší Lhota and detached regions of Kramata (Vimperk), Homole (České Budějovice) and Bechyně (Dražice). The highest peaks of this part of Šumava are Lysá (1,228 m above sea level) and Knížecí Stolec (1,226 m above sea level). Protected areas declared outside the military district include:

Šumava Landscape Park – declared by Order no. 53855/1963 of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Socialist Republic of 27 December 1963, having an area of 160,300 ha. In 1991, the area was reduced to 99,400 ha as a result of the transfer of lands to the new Šumava National Park. The Šumava Landscape Park also represents the protected zone for the Šumava National Park.
National natural monument Blanice is a vast territory of meadows, peatbogs and forests in the basin of Blanice with a special area of conservation of freshwater pearl mussel.
National natural monument Prameniště Blanice
Natural monument Házlův kříž with a complex of hydric meadows, pastures and peatbogs.
Natural monument Pestřice with a springhead linked to hydric meadows and peatbogs.
Natural monument Račínské prameniště is a source area with pasture meadow communities.
Natural monument Vlásenický potok is an important locality of the ostrich fern.
Special protection area of Šumava was also declared by Government Regulation no. 681/2004 Sb. of 8 December 2004, effective 31 December 2004. VLS ČR, s.p. covers only part of the forestry unit of Bližší Lhota at the VLS division of Horní Planá (approx. 836 ha – sections 1-19, 20 part and 36). The special protection area should protect the population of the following bird species – black grouse, western capercaillie, black stork, corn crake, Eurasian pygmy owl, boreal owl, black woodpecker, hazel grouse and three-toed woodpecker, and their biotopes.

KARLOVY VARY DIVISION (Hradiště military district)

The Karlovy Vary division manages the territory of the Doupovské Mountains in the military training area of Hradiště (33,161 ha) on an area of 19,230 ha (including 16,705 ha of the military district). The lands are managed by 3 forestry offices (Dolní Lomnice, Klášterec nad Ohří and Valeč) and the Bražec agricultural office, which is directly controlled by the agricultural division of ŘSP. The highest peak of the area is Hradiště (934 meters above sea level). Protected areas declared outside the military district include:

National nature reserve Úhošť is a significant dominant basalt table mountain with rare thermophilic communities.
Natural monument Mravenčák is a rocky peak with a sheer wall and thermophilic steppe flora.
Natural monument Rašovické skály are rocky hillsides with thermophilic communities.

PLUMLOV DIVISION (Březina military district)

The Plumlov division mainly manages the territory of the military training district of Březina (15,817 ha), which is located between the cities of Prostějov and Vyškov on the hillsides of the Drahanská Highlands. It manages the lands of 17,684 ha, including 12,973 ha in the military training district of Březina. The area is managed mainly by the forestry offices of Žárovice, Myslejovice and Rychtářov. Protected areas declared outside the military district include:

Nature reserve Údolí Oslavy and Chvojnice is a significant canyon-like valley of two watercourses, with rocky hillsides and thermophilic communities.
Nature reserve Studnické louky protects communities of hydric eutrophic and mesophilic meadows in the valley of a brook, with a meandering phenomenon and bank vegetation, and the occurrence of specially protected plant species

LIPNÍK NAD BEČVOU DIVISION (Libavá military district)

The Lipník nad Bečvou division mainly manages the Oderské Uplands in the territory of the military training district of Libavá, 50 km from the town of Olomouc, through the forestry offices of Libavá, Potštát, Velký Újezd, Hlubočky; in detached parts in the district of Bruntál, Nový Jičín, Frýdek-Místek, Karviná, Opava and Vsetín; the Bruntál forestry office manages lands, where the Czech Armed Forces have their special-purpose facilities. Organic farming is controlled by the Heroltovice agricultural office.
Protected areas declared outside the military district include:

Nature reserve Kunov with a rich locality of ostrich fern.
Natural monument Prameny Zrzávky are two independent water springs with a high content of ferric sulphate and hydrogen sulphide with species related to it.
Natural monument Kamenné proudy u Domašova with examples of frost bursting (frost-riven cliffs, blockfields and brash).
Natural monument Kamenec with wetlands and rare flora and amphibian refugium.

MIMOŇ DIVISION (former military training districts of Ralsko, Milovice - Mladá)

Here, the military premises were cancelled by the Government Regulation as of 31 December 1993 following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 2001. Immediately, detailed inventory surveys were commenced in the territory, which confirmed that these territories are biologically valuable. There are two game parks in the territory of the Mimoň division. The Židlov game park of 3,800 ha for breeding the red deer and mouflon, and the Velký Dub game park of 534 ha for breeding the fallow deer and mouflon. There is also the highest share of specially protected areas managed by VLS ČR, s.p. The most important include:

České středohoří landscape park covers 30 ha of lands in a detached part of Červený Újezd of the Břehyně forestry unit.

National nature reserve Břehyně - Pecopala is a vast territory with sandstone rocky settlement and pond with peatbogs, located on both sides of the Břehyně – Hradčany road, and has been protected since 1933 as part of a larger territory. There are important swamp communities here, and the original beechwoods in the rocky town. The pond is managed by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic and has been extensively used for fishing purposes. Břehyňský Pond has been entered on the list of wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention since 1991, and in 1994 the reserve was included in the network of biogenetic reserves of the Council of Europe.

National natural monument SWAMP is located on the southeast bank of Máchovo Lake. It is a peatbog with small pools and unique flora and fauna. The territory is an important algological locality with several dozens of new species of algae.
Natural monument Hradčanské rybníky is a network of four forest ponds (Černý, Vavrouškův, Strážovský and Držník) interconnected by Hradčanský Creek with adjacent peatbogs, wet meadows and forest covers to the east of the village of Hradčany, and, as part of a larger territory, it has been protected since 1933. In this territory, important water and peatbog flora as well as nesting sites of birds are protected.
Nature reserve Velký and Malý Bezděz are two phonolitic peaks, one of them being 603 m high (Velký Bezděz), with the royal castle of Bezděz on its top (one of the most important early-Gothic castles in Bohemia, which was built in 1264–1278 and has been declared a cultural heritage monument), and the other one being 578 m high (Malý Bezděz). There is also significant natural non-forest vegetation and mixed deciduous forests on rubble. On the northern part of Velký Bezděz, there is a pseudokarst joint cavern.
Nature reserve Ralsko consists of rocks, brash and brash forests (predominantly beechwoods with rich herbaceous ground cover) with two dominants: the Ralsko peak (696 meters above sea level) and the ruins of a castle of the same name, having the elements of the Romanesque style, which has been declared a cultural heritage monument.
Natural monument Vranovské skály is a rocky complex with striking sandstone rock formations and significant flora at the southwest foot of the Ralsko hill with a tourist view – Juliina vyhlídka.
Natural monument Děvín, Ostrý and Schachstein are two neo-volcanic extracted tors, which were deforested in the Middle Ages for strategic reasons. On the peak of Děvín, there are ruins of a royal castle of the Přemyslid dynasty, which has been entered on the list of cultural heritage monuments. On Děvín and Ostrý, there are beechwoods abounding with flowers with a rich herbaceous ground cover; on Schachstein, there are unique remains of the extraction of iron ore – limonite.
Natural monument Široký kámen is a geomorphologically important sandstone rock formation with a flat peak and steep rock walls – a table mountain. On rock edges, remains of relict pinewoods have been preserved.
Natural monument Rašeliniště Černého rybníka is located in the former area of uranium extraction; transitional peatbog and water community with specially protected species of flora and fauna are subject to protection.
Natural monument Divadlo is an important sandstone geomorphological formation with many rock shapes (ledges, cavities, niches, honeycomb, arches, rock-basins and pseudokarren) with relict pinewoods.
Natural monument Stohánek is an isolated torso of a sandstone plateau, which belongs to special formations of weathering and ablation of sandstone.
Natural monument Malý and Velký Jelení vrch are two isolated neo-volcanic hills, which form the relief of Ralská Uplands covered mostly by deciduous forests.
Natural monument Hadí kopec is a geomorphologically significant massif of a basalt body divided by the Lomnice watercourse with examples of column structure, with rare thermophilic herbaceous elements and vegetation of rock walls and crevices.
Special protection area Českolipsko – Dokeské pískovce a mokřady was declared by Government Regulation no. 598/2004 Sb. of 27 October 2004, for the population of common crane, western marsh harrier, European nightjar, woodlark, and bluethroat, and their biotopes, and became effective on 6 December 2004. The territory is located on the vast majority of the forestry unit of Břehyně and Hradčany of the VLS Mimoň division.
Special protection area Východní Krušné hory was also delimited on the northern periphery of the separated part of the forestry unit of Břehyně by Government Regulation no. 28/2005 Sb., of 15 December 2004 for the population of the black grouse and its biotopes.