Poodří Protected Landscape Area

The Poodří PLA is home to a variety of aquatic, meadow, and forest vegetation. The areas around ponds are covered with sedge and reed stands. Within the ponds, rare aquatic plants such as water caltrop, floating fern, and water-carnivorous plants like bladderwort can be found. Endangered species like the water violet and floating fern the yellow water-lily bloom near the blind river branches. The Poodří PLA is also characterized by periodically flooded floodplain meadows with distinct plant communities. Forests cover about 10% of the Poodří PLA area and consist mainly of trees such as common hornbeam, pedunculate oak, small-leaved lime, and ash. In the herbaceous layer of the forests, flowers such as snowdrop, wood anemone, early purple orchid, and bear garlic can be found.

The Poodří region is known for the presence of numerous rare and often thermophilic species of mushrooms. Some of the wood-decaying species include the hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa), umbellate polypore (Polyporus umbellatus), cauliflower fungus (Sparassis nemecii), Hartig's fire fungus (Phellinus hartigii), oak bracket (Inonotus dryadeus), dryad's saddle (Inonotus dryophilus), resinous polypore (Ganoderma resinaceum), glossy polypore (Ganoderma lucidum), ash tree bracket (Perenniporia fraxinea), coral tooth fungus (Hericium coralloides), lion's mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus), bearded tooth fungus (Hericium flagellum), and orange-toothed crust (Sarcodontia crocea).^[3]

The ponds, the Oder River, and the pools in the Poodří area are home to many species of aquatic mollusks, including the endangered thick shelled river mussel and the thin-lined river snail. Poodří also hosts two endangered species of crustaceans – the noble crayfish and the snowflake water louse. The insect fauna is rich, with many local species, such as the marsh fritillary butterfly, black hairstreak, stag beetle, brown chafer, and bush-cricket Stetophyma grossum. Endangered fish species in the Oder River include the spined loach, bitterling, and brook lamprey, while the striped rudd can be found in the pools. The Poodří PLA is home to many amphibian species, with the great crested newt, fire-bellied toad, and European tree frog being among the most significant in terms of nature conservation. With its ponds and wetlands, the area is a popular refuge for water birds, including nesting species such as the grey heron, great cormorant, red-necked grebe, red-crested pochard, coot, greylag goose, great bittern, and bittern. Many other rare bird species can be observed in the area, although they do not nest there but spend part of the year there. Protected mammal species found in the Poodří PLA include the European beaver and Eurasian otter. The PLA territory is home to 16 bat species, which represents 76% of the bat fauna in the Czech Republic. Poodří is also habitat for Osmoderma eremita (newly Osmoderma barnabita), which one of the LIFE's projects led by Arnika and University of Ostrava aimed to protect and enlarge.^[4]

The Poodří PLA administration is located in Studénka. The protected landscape area was declared on 1 May 1991. A new declaration was made by Government Regulation No. 51/2017 Coll. on the Poodří Protected Landscape Area, which simultaneously revoked the original declaration regulation, on 15 February 2017.^[5]

Within the Poodří PLA, there are ten small-scale protected areas, managed by the administration of the PLA:^[6]

• Polanská niva National Nature Reserve
• Bartošovický luh Nature Reserve
• Bařiny Nature Reserve
• Bažantula Nature Reserve
• Koryta Nature Reserve
• Kotvice Nature Reserve
• Polanský les Nature Reserve
• Rákosina Nature Reserve
• Rezavka Nature Reserve
• Jistebnické mokřady Nature Reserve, established in 2026^[7]
• Meandry Staré Odry Nature Monument

The Pusté nivy Nature Monument was abolished in 2014. In addition, the administration of the PLA manages several small-scale protected areas outside the PLA.^[6]