Podyjí National Park


Podyjí National Park is a national park in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Adjacent to Austria's Thayatal National Park on the border, together they are referred to as the Inter-National park. Podyjí is one of the Czech Republic's four national parks. It protects near-natural forests along the deep Dyje River valley. The well-preserved state of the biome of the park is cited as being unique in Central Europe.

Legal status

Podyjí National Park is one of the four national parks of the Czech Republic. It has an area of and buffer zone of. It was formally declared a national park 1 July 1991 by government order no. 164/1991. BirdLife International has included this park under its criteria C6 covering a larger area of.

Geography

Podyjí National Park lies in an elevation range of. Its habitats include forest, grassland, arable land, shrubland, rocky areas and inland wetlands. The park is drained by the Dyje River, which flows for a length of through the park in a thickly-forested valley within the Českomoravská vrchovina uplands. The river valley's depth measures up. Land use has been established for nature conservation and research, forestry and agriculture. Park trails lead to the castle ruins of Nový Hrádek, Hardegg Castle, and Vranov nad Dyjí Chateau.

Wildlife

The park's valley is home to 77 species of plants, which include oak woods, hornbeam, beech, and alder. Some of the perennial flowering species are cyclamen, mulleins, and pasque flower. The upper plateau, which was denuded by logging and converted to cultivable land, contains grasslands. Along the river beds, reed-beds or willow shrubs are noted. Eighteen species of orchids have been recorded.
152 species of bird have been recorded in the park. The IBA trigger species recorded are Syrian woodpecker ' and Barred warbler '. The faunal species recorded consist of 65 species of mammals. There are seven species of reptiles, which include a tree snake and green lizard.

Viticulture

, one of the oldest and most renowned vineyard tracks in the Czech Republic, is situated in the park. In 2014, the company Znovín Znojmo who owns 70% of the vineyards at Šobes, started efforts to place the area on the list of UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Šobes contains approximately 12 hectares of vineyards.