The Kleiner Kranichsee (literally "Little Crane Lake", Czech: ''Malé jeřábí jezero'') is one of the most important

raised bog Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation ( ombro ...

s in the Ore Mountains of Central Europe. The bog straddles the German/Czech border; the part lying in the German state of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

has been protected since 1930, whilst the Czech part (6.02 hectares) was declared a nature reserve in 1962. JGStadt-Kranichsee

Location

The

is located at an elevation of 930 metres above sea level (NN) in a clearing in the highland forest southwest of the town of

Johanngeorgenstadt Johanngeorgenstadt () is a mining town in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, 17 km south of Aue, and 27 km northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, on the border with the Czech Republic, is a state-recognized health ...

. The border between

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

runs through the bog and continues over the mountain of Buchschachtelberg.

Name

The name of the raised bog is linked to the Czech word ''granica'' "meaning border". The Kleiner Kranichsee was first mentioned in historical records in 1551.

Significance

It is a

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

- and ''

krummholz ''Krummholz'' (german: krumm, "crooked, bent, twisted" and ''Holz'', "wood") — also called ''knieholz'' ("knee timber") — is a type of stunted, deformed vegetation encountered in the subarctic and subalpine Montane ecosystems are fou ...

'' raised bog that is drained towards the north by the Steinbach stream, to the west by the Große Bockau, to the south through the Buchschachtel ditch and to the east by the Lehmergrundbach stream. To the west lies the Großer Kranichsee ("Great Kranich Lake"), a bog whose heart lies on the Czech side of the border.

Vegetation

Mountain pine ''Pinus mugo'', known as bog pine, creeping pine, dwarf mountain pine, mugo pine, mountain pine, scrub mountain pine, or Swiss mountain pine, is a species of conifer, native to high elevation habitats from southwestern to Central Europe and Sou ...

(''Pinus mugo'') *

Hare's-tail cottongrass ''Lagurus'' is a genus of Old World plants in the grass family, native to the Mediterranean Basin and nearby regions, from Madeira and the Canary Islands to Crimea and Saudi Arabia. It is also naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, the Azor ...

(''Eriophorum vaginatum'') *

Black crowberry ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there ...

(''Empetrum nigrum'') *

Bog bilberry ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' (bog bilberry, bog blueberry, northern bilberry or western blueberry) is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus ''Vaccinium'' within the heath family. Distribution ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' is native ...

(''Vaccinium uliginosum'') *

Bog-rosemary ''Andromeda polifolia'', common name bog-rosemary, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only member of the genus ''Andromeda'', and is only found in bogs in ...

(''Andromeda polifolia'')

Fauna

* Adder (''Vipera berus'') *

Viviparous lizard The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, (''Zootoca vivipara'', formerly ''Lacerta vivipara''), is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning i ...

(''Lacerta vivipara'')

Tourism

By the turn of the century, the

Ore Mountain Club The Ore Mountain Club (german: Erzgebirgsverein) is one of the oldest and most tradition-steeped local history, mountain and hiking clubs in Germany. The club was founded in 1878. After the Second World War the club and its many branches wer ...

branch at Johanngeorgenstadt laid a

corduroy road A corduroy road or log road is a type of road or timber trackway made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet rough in the bes ...

into the bog and set up a viewing stand, which has since been replaced several times. Its location was moved about 30 years ago by several metres to better protect nature.

Literature

* * * Eduard Wagner: ''Der sterbende See.'' In: ''Erzgebirgs-Zeitung'', 52nd year, 1931, pp. 2–7.
Digitalisat
* Landkreis Erzgebirgskreis: ''Naturschutzfachliche Würdigung zum „Naturschutzgebiet Kleiner Kranichsee, Butterwegmoor und Henneberger Hang“ im Erzgebirgskreis'', Annaberg 2011, 20 page
digitalised
{{Authority control Geography of the Ore Mountains Kranichsee, Kleiner Johanngeorgenstadt Kranichsee, Kleiner Kranichsee, Kleiner BKranichsee Kleiner