Military training ground Bzenec
A natural monument worthy of soldiers
About 1.5 km south of Bzenec in the Hodonín region, next to the road leading to Strážnice, there is an interesting natural monument. It is a semi-desert vegetation, which on an approximately 37 hectares of blown sands forms an unusual natural monument – one of the few unforested areas of blown sands. Sand dumps were created by winding fine sand from sea sediments from sand terraces from the banks of the nearby Morava River.
Military training ground
There has been a military training ground at this place since 1888, which actually ensured the preservation of the unusual semi-desert vegetation. Thanks to the movement of soldiers and heavy equipment until 1993, the area did not overgrow the surrounding pines and other overgrowth trees and retained the character of the original desert. The Bzenec military training ground has therefore been protected as a natural monument since 11 November 1994.
Overgrowth of the area
After the departure of the military garrison from Bzenec, acreage of acacia and pine trees from the surrounding stands began to overgrow the area. Therefore, the current problem of the protected area is mainly raids of pines from the surrounding forests. "The forest pine is well absorbed on the dry sandy soil and there is a risk that the sandy desert will become a forest. However, forests do not provide such suitable conditions for the life and growth of unique gerbil species of plants and animals as bare areas.
Rare species of plants and animals
Many different unusual grasses and other drought-loving plants grow here. Some species of local animals are endangered to critically endangered or are tied exclusively to cotton sands. Critically endangered animal species living here include, for example, the mantis (Mantis religiosa), the southern mantis (Mantisa styriaca), the flatfish (Libelloides spp.) And the green lizard (Lacerta viridis).
