Rašeliniště Borková Nature Reserve and Protected Peatland Landscape in Jihočeský kraj

The site was formally protected on 1 May 1995, when it was declared a nature reserve by the Šumava National Park and Protected Landscape Area Administration. Protection came well after the construction of the Lipno reservoir in the mid-twentieth century, which flooded the majority of the original peatlands of the Vltavická brázda. The reserve was established specifically to safeguard the remaining fragment of that lost wetland system.

Earlier in the site's history, the peat had been locally exploited: it was cut for fuel, including for use in a local brewery and in graphite mines in the region. By the late twentieth century, the surviving remnant was recognized as ecologically significant both for its vegetation and for its waterbird breeding value, which justified its formal designation. The reserve has since functioned as a small protected reference of the pre-dam valley landscape within the larger Šumava Protected Landscape Area framework.

Geologically, the reserve sits on Moldanubian migmatized paragneisses, which form the substrate on which the valley peat developed. The peatland itself lies within the gentle relief of the Vltavická brázda valley, at elevations between roughly 725 and 732 meters.

The contemporary landscape is shaped as much by the Lipno reservoir as by the original valley terrain. The lakeshore strip that runs through the reserve was deforested during dam construction and now forms a marshy transition between open water and drier peat. Beyond that lakeshore band, the terrain rises into surviving bog pine woodland on more stable peat, and finally into a narrow fringe of mixed spruce-pine forest along the reserve's southern boundary. The overall impression is of a compressed, finely zoned wetland landscape set against the broader backdrop of the Šumava highlands and the expansive surface of the Lipno reservoir.

The vegetation of Rašeliniště Borková is composed of three broadly defined zones that reflect both the natural gradient away from the lakeshore and the legacy of human alteration.

Along the reservoir, a strip of sedge-dominated communities occupies ground that was cleared during the dam's construction. Within these sedge stands grow tufted loosestrife (Lysimachia thyrsiflora), slender sedge (Carex lasiocarpa), cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), and bog bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum). Moving further from the shore, the reserve transitions into a relict bog pine woodland dominated by bog pine (Pinus uncinata subsp. uliginosa), with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and birch (Betula) on drier patches, and a typical bog understory of heather (Calluna) and bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus). A narrow band of spruce-pine forest marks the southern edge of the reserve.

This combination of lakeshore marsh and surviving ombrotrophic bog woodland makes Borková an unusually compact example of a formerly extensive peatland landscape now preserved only in fragments around the Lipno reservoir.

The reserve is recognized as an important waterbird breeding site along the Lipno reservoir, a function that is closely tied to its mix of open water, marshy shoreline, and sheltered bog vegetation. The waterbird presence is one of the reasons Borková was granted formal protection.

The site is also notable for its invertebrate fauna, particularly species closely tied to peatland habitats. Mire-dependent butterflies are present, including the moorland clouded yellow (Colias palaeno) and the bog fritillary (Proclossiana eunomia). Among beetles, the ground beetle Carabus menetriesi and the heather ground beetle Cymindis vaporariorum have been recorded, along with other mire-associated carabids. In the immediate surroundings of the reserve, near the road junction by the vanished village of Kyselov, the pale orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata blooms in late May; this is reported as its only known locality on the Czech side of the Šumava.

Rašeliniště Borková belongs to the Šumava Protected Landscape Area and holds IUCN Category IV status, reflecting its focus on conserving particular species or habitat types rather than on broad ecosystem protection. Its central conservation significance lies in preserving the last surviving fragment of the extensive valley peatlands of the Vltavická brázda, most of which were lost when the Lipno reservoir was created.

The reserve continues to support relict peatland vegetation, an unusual concentration of mire-dependent invertebrates, and a regionally important waterbird breeding habitat. Together, these values make the site a small but ecologically disproportionate reference area within the much larger Šumava conservation framework, helping to maintain biodiversity and ecological memory of a vanished wetland landscape.

The reserve sits in a landscape with a long history of modest human use. Peat was once cut here for local fuel, including for a brewery and for the region's historical graphite mines. The nearby settlement of Kyselov, which once lay at a crossroads close to the reserve, has since vanished; only the place name and a few traces remain in the cultural landscape. The area reflects a broader pattern in the Šumava region, where formerly extensive wetlands were gradually reduced through drainage, peat cutting, and ultimately the construction of the Lipno dam.

Rašeliniště Borková preserves a rare surviving fragment of the Vltavická brázda's valley peatlands, lost elsewhere beneath the Lipno reservoir, and protects a compressed sequence of wetland vegetation from lakeshore sedge marsh to bog pine woodland with relict bog flora.

It also stands out for its rich peatland invertebrate fauna, including the moorland clouded yellow butterfly and several mire-associated ground beetles, and for functioning as an important waterbird breeding site along the Lipno shore.

Late spring and early summer are particularly rewarding at Borková: by the end of May, the rare pale orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata begins to bloom near the old crossroads at Kyselov just outside the reserve, and waterbird breeding activity along the shoreline is at its most visible. The bog pine woodland and lakeshore marsh retain their green character through summer, while the heather and bilberry understory becomes visually distinctive in late summer and early autumn. Winter visits can offer a quieter atmospheric experience of the bog landscape against the frozen surface of the Lipno reservoir, though much of the wildlife interest will be reduced at that season.