BEECH – RULER OF EUROPEAN FORESTS

The main dominant of the Jizera Mountains beech forests is the European beech – a tree that literally has a privileged position in Europe. The beech is a European endemic, which means that it naturally occurs only on our continent.

It survived the Ice Age in southern parts of Europe and gradually spread across most of the continent after its end. Beech is one of the most important elements of the temperate deciduous forest biome in Europe. It represents an excellent example of the recolonization and evolution of terrestrial ecosystems and communities since the last Ice Age.

Beech

The Jizera Mountains beech forests are a great example of the natural development of a forest without significant human intervention. Thanks to this, we can observe processes here that have long since disappeared elsewhere - the slow aging of trees, the formation of rotting wood and the renewal of the forest by its own power. It is an example of a balance that only nature itself can create.