Březná Natural Park
Březná Natural Park was declared in 1997 on a large area of 11,600 ha. The reasons for preserving the valuable natural, geologic, geomorphologic, and palaeontologic area and mainly the landscape character are numerous. The shape of the entire area, due to the nearby Highlands, is composed of flat and gently rolling upland plateaus with a system of deeply carved valleys through which Březná Stream and the Moravská Sázava River flow. Despite the adverse influence of man the nature here is preserved in a condition that allows continued self-regulation and all the natural ecosystems, including forest environments, show a high degree of ecological stability.
The most appropriate symbol of Březná Natural Park is the perennial – spring snowflake. We can find carpets of this protected plant at the end of March in damp meadows near the settlement of Na Horách and the towns Horní Studénky, Drozdov, and Jedlí. The species-rich alluvial meadows around meandering Březná Stream have special significance. March's snowflakes are replaced by the purplish blooms of melandrium, viscaria, ragged robin, and geranium phaeum. In damp areas grow yellow iris, cattails, rush, and Scirpus silvaticus. Valuable riparian communities are found near Březná Stream and the Moravská Sázava River into which Březná Stream flows, including blind branches and pools; here are found a wide range of amphibians and small crustaceans, and even the increasingly rare river crayfish.
The rarer representatives of our fauna in this area include European deer, black stork, eagle owl, sparrow hawk, raven, black woodpecker, kingfisher, woodcock, quail, and partridge. Březná Natural Park is situated in the following cadastral territories or parts thereof: Hoštejn, Hynčina, Lupěné, Hněvkov, Václavov, Pivonín, Svébohov, Nemile, Zábřeh, Rovensko, Postřelmůvek, Vyšehoří, Klášterec, Olšany, Zborov, Bušín, Jakubovice, Písařov, Bukovice, Březná, Březenský Dvůr, Štíty, Crhov, Jedlí, Horní Studénky, Drozdov, and Kosov.
Březná Stream
Březná Stream winds through Štíty and the surrounding areas in a picturesque valley. The source of Březná Stream is located between Jeřáb (1,002.8 metres) and Bouda (956 metres). The course of the stream: Moravský Karlov, Bílá Voda, Mlýnice, Mlýnický Dvůr, Březná, Štíty, Crhov, Drozdovská Pila. At Hoštejn Březná Stream flows into the Moravská Sázava River.
Kralický Sněžník Bird Territory
Following its expansion the Králický Sněžník Bird Territory now includes the northern part of the Štíty, Březná, and Heroltice cadastral territory. The intention of the bird territory is to protect the corncrake (Crex crex) and its habitat. The corncrake is one of the most threatened and vulnerable bird species in the world. There are currently 1,500 – 1,700 pairs of corncrakes living in the Czech Republic (compared to Austria with 150 – 300 pairs, and Poland with 6,600 - 30,000 pairs).
Palaeontological finds
Štíty is a significant paleontological site in northern Moravia. In 1929 a clay pit and new brickworks were established on the northeastern edge of the town. Clayish siltstone was mined from the wall clay pit and was fired to produce solid bricks. Geologically the local sediments belong to the Czech chalk basin, specifically to the Králický chalk basin. Approximately 95 million years ago there was a sea stretching from today's Kladsko to here in the upper chalk layer (perhaps 85 million years ago the sea definitively subsided from the Štíty area). In the past thirty years mainly clams, gastropods, tooth shells (exclusively sea creatures that have lived in the sea from the Paleozoic Era until today), ammonites (the most perfectly developed cephalopods that died out at the end of the Mesozoic Era) have been found in the clay pit of the brickworks.
Coral finds were first published in 1999. Vertebrate remains and plant fossils are also common. The brickworks, where bricks were fired in a round kiln until 2004, is now more or less an industrial open-air museum, though naturally not open to the public.
