Körös-éri Tájvédelmi Körzet

The Körös-ér Landscape Protection Area is Hungary's youngest nationally significant natural area protected by a unique legislation. Its area is 2223 hectares. The Landscape Protection Area falls under the administration of the Kiskunság National Park Directorate.

Location

The landscape protection area bears the name of the Körös-ér. It was originally a natural watercourse during the river regulation period; the present Körös-ér main channel was created in the area to serve the drainage of the region's surface waters. As a result of the surface water drainage, the area has become increasingly dry, and this drying has reached the deeper parts as well. In the northern part of the landscape protection area characteristic hill habitats are found.

The southern, protected parts of the area formed for decades the southern border strip of the country. Their characteristic is the water richness of the bucka wetlands. Here the cover of running sand becomes increasingly fragmented and the loess layers beneath provide better water retention. A few kilometres further south, already in Serbian territory, the Danube–Tisza sand ridge also ends.

Natural values

The protected areas of the landscape protection area are located primarily in three border municipalities: Ásotthalom, Mórahalom and the administrative area of Kelebia.

Ásotthalom

In the Ásotthalom area lies one of the oldest protected (declared protected since 1944) sites of Csongrád-Csanád County, the Ásotthalom Memorial Grove. No human intervention has occurred in the Ásotthalom Memorial Grove for at least a hundred years. Characteristic hill habitat with decreasing forest stock and sandplain clearings.

Also located in the Ásotthalom area, the Ásotthalom Bogárzó was only included among protected natural values in 1993. This Bogárzó is a low-lying area along the Bogárzó channel. The channel is bordered partly by planted and partly by natural forests.

Southeast of Ásotthalom lie the Ásotthalom meadows, one of which is the Csodarét. The Csodarét was already under national protection because of its botanical values. Here blooms every year in the Central European region a unique swamp lily with a population of several tens of thousands of individuals.

Mórahalom

South of Mórahalom, along the Serbian border, partly extending into Serbia, are the sites of the Nature Protection Area:

Kissori sites, Tanasz sites, Csipak sites and the Madarász Lake. Among the sites, only the Rívó Forest and sites do not belong to Mórahalom.

Kelebia

Kelebia marks the western edge of the nature protection area. The Kelebia fish ponds and the surrounding forests constitute the largest part of the nature protection area. The water supply of the fish ponds is highly weather‑dependent, so the location and size of the open water surfaces are erratic. As a result, the pond margins can even become overgrown with grass. In rainy years, however, these ponds attract herons and bitterns. Significant protected bird populations nest in the forests surrounding the fish ponds. On the remaining dry meadow patches lives one of Europe’s rarest mammals, the southern ground‑tit.

South of Kelebia, along the Körös stream, the Magyari forest and the Átokháza peat mine are located. In this relatively small but extremely varied area every habitat characteristic of the Kiskunság can be found, from dry sand dunes to open water. The Magyari forest is a planted pine forest, and on the natural remnant patches in the forest the typical hill habitats host frequent occurrences of the sheep's sorrel, the hill vetch, and the hill arnica. In the peat mine area, from open water through the dune marshes to the dry hill habitats, everything is present. The protected fish living in the mine pits are the marsh roach and the meadow barbel. This area is the breeding and feeding site of various water birds: herons, reed species. The southernmost unit of the area is the Rívó forest and its meadows. Its northern part is a planted oak and ash forest, the southern part is a meadow‑willow area.

Cultural values

Within the protected landscape area the Great Széksóstó, the Bácsboristai meadow, the Bogárzó, the Kelebia fishing lakes and forests, the Kissori meadows, the Madarász lake, as well as the Öttömös baromjárás area may be visited freely without prior permission.

Limited visitation, primarily for educational purposes and based on prior notification, is allowed with guides provided by the national park to the Ásotthalmi marsh (Csodarét), the Csipak meadows, the Emlékerdő, the Átokháza peat mine, the Rívó forest and meadows, and the Tanaszi meadows.

With prior permission, the Ásotthalmi marsh (Csodarét) and the Emlékerdő may be visited without a guide.

Water tourism is prohibited in the protected landscape area.