Locality
The former shooting range is located about 1 km south of the village Mašovice in the protection zone of Podyjí National Park. It lies at an altitude of about 400 m and has a roughly rectangular shape with a longer side oriented in the west-east direction. The relief is flat, very slightly inclined towards the southeast. The geological substratum consists mainly of loess and clay; only in the eastern tip the crystalline rocks of the Dyje massif are rising, here represented by biotite granite. Climatically it is a warm area.
The area of the Mašovice Range is 78 ha, of which approximately 30 ha is a project site.
Vegetation cover
The area of interest is covered with various types of dry grasslands in a mosaic with shrubs and smaller vegetation of self-seeding woody plants (aspen, birch, pine, field maple). The impact area at the south-eastern tip of the shooting range is currently covered with a larger growth of self-seeding pine trees. There are also two smaller pools of unknown purpose on the site, which currently serve as an important habitat for amphibians and invertebrates.
Military use of the site in the past, current state
The area served as a preparatory shooting range for infantry, but also for tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (IFV). The shooting range was established at the beginning of the 1950s, first for the infantry, and then, after modernization in the 1970s, also for training tanks and IFV. One track was established for tanks, three tracks for IFV. Operation of the shooting range stopped in 1997 due to the strict protective regime of the adjacent national park.
Due to the nature of the terrain (ditches, furrows, anthills, high coverage of shrubs), most project site areas of interest are managed only by hand cutting of the grass using a brushcutter or grazing. After the decline of military activity, it became necessary to regularly remove a large amount of self-seeding woody plants.
Legal protection
The project site is part of the protection zone of the Podyjí National Park, and simultaneously it is protected as the Special Area of Conservation Mašovice Shooting Range and the Special Protection Area Podyjí.