Jizera Beech Forest

On the steep northern flank of the Jizera Mountains, above Hejnice, are slopes of beech forest that were never clear-felled: the ground is too steep and too broken with boulders to have been worth logging, so stands of old beech survived where the plateau above was planted with spruce and later killed by acid rain. Two areas, the Jizerskohorske bucin, were added in 2021 to the UNESCO serial listing of Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, which now covers dozens of components across many countries and records how beech recolonised the continent after the last glaciation. The trees are large, the ground is rock and deadwood, and the fauna reflects it. Access is on marked trails from below; the core zones are closed to entry. There is a large pilgrimage basilica at Hejnice at the foot of the slope.

What you actually see

• Old beech on steep ground - never felled because it was not worth the effort.
• A UNESCO component since 2021 - part of the European beech forest listing.
• Rock and deadwood - the forest floor left as it forms.
• A survivor of acid rain - where the spruce plateau above was killed.

When to go

May to October; October for the colour. A day.

Honest expectations

The core reserve zones are closed and viewed from marked trails below. Slopes are steep and rocky. This is old forest, not a spectacle - the interest is in what is not there, which takes some reading.

Nearby

Hejnice basilica is at the foot; the Jizera plateau is above.