The nature reserve Soos has a new information center

photo: zivechebsko.cz

Františkovy Lázně (Chebsko) – A new visitor center has been opened in the national nature reserve Soos in the Cheb region. The construction was delayed by several months initially due to the building permit, and later due to measures regarding the coronavirus. The costs for building two buildings and a gazebo amounted to 20 million crowns. The management of the reserve aims to expand cooperation with the Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic (AOPK), said Jan Kuchař, the mayor of Františkovy Lázně (PRO Zdraví a Sport) to ČTK.

"The main building is two stories; on the ground floor, we created a reception area with a new ticket office, where people can also buy souvenirs. At the same time, we adapted the ground floor for employees, including changing rooms, break rooms, a kitchenette, and storage rooms," Kuchař stated.

The ground floor also includes a meeting room for the public with a capacity of 20 people. On the first floor, two research rooms were created for scientists studying the Soos area, particularly from the fields of geology and balneology. Scientists can work and even stay overnight there. The main building is adjacent to a facility with social amenities and a gazebo.

"Starting next year, we could become an information center not only for Soos but also for the Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic. This means we should provide information not only about the Soos reserve but also about nature conservation in the area. In the future, there should also be a so-called nature house, similar to that in Kladská, or a museum of water," Kuchař said. According to him, this could significantly increase the number of visitors to the reserve.

The construction, which began in early September 2018, is funded through a grant from the Czech-German project Gateway to the Depths of the Earth. The project also supports access to historical tunnels beneath the Komorní hůrka volcano and a former iron ore mine in the German Fichtelberg. Františkovy Lázně contributed about one million crowns to the furnishing of the info center and other costs.

The national nature reserve, covering an area of 221 hectares, is accessible via a 1.2-kilometer long educational trail that runs along the bottom of a dried saline lake. Approximately 50,000 visitors tour it each year. The reserve is now known primarily for its so-called mofettes, bubbling mud volcanoes. They are created by escaping carbon dioxide, which is a remnant of earlier volcanic activity.