On the Expedition
Help restore the vital links of ecosystems damaged by acid rain.
In the gently sloping Jizera Mountains, you’ll collect water samples and take temperature, pH, conductivity, and oxygen readings from more than 30 streams and reservoirs. You’ll also help catch and examine reintroduced fish and sample other aquatic organisms. Hiking through beech and spruce forests, you’ll evaluate tree vitality, collect soil and vegetation samples, and study erosion and plant succession. After a day in the field, you’ll be trained to test samples and record data in the lab.
In your recreational time, you can hike or bike in the beautiful Jizera Mountains, or visit nearby castles, museums, botanical gardens, glass factories, cafes and restaurants.
Meals and Accommodations
You’ll stay in a cozy mountain pension, a 200-year old farmhouse made of stone and wood, in historic Bedrichov village. The pension has double rooms, television, hot showers, sauna, an internet connection, and simple laundry facilities. You’ll also use the pension as your field lab and briefing center, and will take continental breakfasts there. You’ll take packed lunches into the field and, after a full day in the field and lab, stroll to a neighboring restaurant for substantial, three-course traditional Czech dinners with sweet and savory dumplings, soups, vegetables, and potatoes.
About the Research Area
The Jizera Mountains region is situated in the humid temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. This area is on an upper plain at an elevation of 800 meters, with gentle slopes and almost complete (83%) forest coverage. Although forest stands of common beech and silver fir still dominated the region at the beginning of the 18th century, Norway spruce became a prevailing species during the 19th century. In the second half of the last century, spruce forests came to comprise about 90% of the whole forest cover in the Jizera Mountains.
The upper plain of the Jizera Mountains is popular for hiking. It is easy to reach the highest tops, which are Smrk (1,124 meters) and Jizera (1,122 meters). The gentle slopes are also convenient for cross-country skiing during the winter. At the end of the 19th century, the first touring club in Liberec initiated trail-blazing and lookout towers in this region.