Ohře, a River that Brings Hope
Mgr. Vladimír Melichar
Summary: Although the riverbed below Cheb has been stabilised in the past in many places by stone embankments and the like, there are still beautiful areas.
The extensive water area of the Nechranice Dam is one of the most important wintering grounds for waterfowl in the Czech Republic, with large numbers of field and white-fronted geese, various ducks and, along the exposed banks, northern waders.
The entire lower Poohří lies in the old settlement area of Bohemia, in which a continuum of non-forest habitats is assumed to have existed since the end of the last Ice Age, not only as a result of the activities of large herbivores, but also as a result of considerable pastoral and later agricultural activities of humans.
In the last century, large towns, such as Karlovy Vary, were still supplied directly from the Ohře, where the Tuhnický dam formed the intake. At the end of the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution came to the local area and the exploitation of mineral resources in the Sub-Krušnohorské Basin was radically intensified. Despite everything, the Ohře River has not lost its biological and ecological potential.
The list of positive changes also includes the gradual repair of relations between Czechs and Germans.