The Krkonoše Mountains are an isolated mountain island in the middle of the lowlands and hills of central Europe. The laws and processes of nature, or the centuries-long economic exploitation of the landscape by man, have created an exceptionally varied mosaic of environments - Krkonoše forests, meadows and wetlands on the foothills and slopes of the mountains, wildflower alpine meadows, alpine grasslands and the lichen tundra of the highest ridges.