Nature Protection – The Beskid Mountains

Issue of the commemorative souvenir sheet
Nature Protection – The Beskid Mountains

Date of issue: 3rd September, 2014
Graphic arrangement: Libuše and Jaromír Knotek
Engraver: Martin Srb
Picture size of the stamps: 40 x 23 mm (13 CZK, 17 CZK)
40 x 50 mm (21 CZK, 25 CZK)
Size of the souv. sheet: 170 x 115  mm
Face value: 13, 17, 21 and 25 CZK
Number of the FDCs: 4 pcs
Method of the printing of the stamps: coloured offset combined with brown-black engraving 
Method of the printing of the FDC´s: recess print from flat plates 
Editor: Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic
Producer: Post Printing House, Ortenovo nám. 16, CZ-170 04 Praha 7
Supplier: PostFila, Export Department, Ortenovo nám.16, CZ-170 24 Praha 7
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Issue of the commemorative souvenir sheet  
NATURE PROTECTION – THE BESKID MOUNTAINS
On the 3rd September, 2014 the Ministry of  Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic will  issue a commemorative souvenir sheet “Nature protection – The Beskid Mountains” with 4 stamps and 3 labels.
Postage stamps: 
1.    13 CZK – Meles meles (a badger)
2.    17 CZK – Felis silvestris (a wildcat)
3.    21 CZK – Ursus arctos (two brown bears)
4.    25 CZK – Nucifraga caryocatactes + Canis lupus (two wolves and  a nutcracker)
The composition is completed by three labels of the sheet. There are another fauna and flora
occuring in the local country.
The Beskid Mountains are located in northeastern Moravia in Wallachia, in the southeast of Czech Silesia, in southern Poland, and in northern Slovakia in the Orava region. The Beskids are mostly forested mountains with rounded peaks, with rocks only occasionally protruding from the surface. The highest peak is Babí hora (1725 m), located on the border between Poland and Slovakia in the area of the Orava and the Zywiec Beskids.
The Beskids generally have the character of central mountains permeated by a number of aulacogen and basin depressions. Typically, they are a range of parallel mountains arranged one after the other and bound to the occurrence of more resistant rocks. They usually contain smoothly sculpted reliefs, whose morphology reflects the composition of flysch rock substrate (sandstones, conglomerates and clay stone shale). Shunting movements are common on the steep slopes. The original forest cover has been broadly reduced and the species altered in favor of spruce. Towards the east, grassy areas called plateaus are gaining ground. Their use in the 15th to 17th century helped pastoral colonization to spread.
The Moravian-Silesian Beskids tower over the Frenštát valley and are hemmed in from the south by the Rožnov valley. The Ostravice River divides them into two groups of mountains. To the east there are the Lysá hora, Travný and Ropice peaks. West of the Ostravice River the range of resistant peaks (Smrk, Kněhyně and Radhošť) decreases and with it the whole Radhošť upland. Smrk is separated from it by the deep Čeladenka valley. South of the Rožnov valley, the Vsetín hills continue (Vysoká, Vsacká Tanečnice), which are characterized by gradual slopes; overall, the local landscape has gentle, soft shapes. The Hostýn hills (Klečský Javorník, Hostýn) connect to this group to the west of the flow of the Vsetínská Bečva River, falling quite steeply to the north. 
The Beskids are home to typical mountain and forest animals, such as deer, wild boar, foxes, martens, badgers, bears, wolves, lynxes and wild cats. Visitors can also see birds, such as tits, thrushes, woodpeckers, wood grouse, lesser-spotted eagles, short-toed eagles, buzzards, ravens, hazel grouse and eagle-owls.
The authors of the  design of the issue are ac. painters  and graphic artists Libuše and Jaromír Knotek, the  engravings of some parts of the sheet and of the FDC are the work of the graphic artist and engraver Martin Srb.
The  stamps, sized 40 x 23 mm (13, and 17 CZK) and 40 x 50 mm (21 and 25 CZK) in the souv. sheet sized 170 x 115 mm have been printed by the Post Printing House in Prague  by coloured offset combined with brown-black engraving.
There  will be  4  First Day Covers incl. commemorative cancellations. On the cover with the 13 CZK stamp (1) is depicted a badger, the cover with the 17 CZK stamp (2) shows a wildcut, on the one with 21 CZK stamp (3) are depicted brown bears and on the last one with 25 CZK stamp are wolves (4). On the postmarks there are: the cover 1: an ural owl (Strix uralensis) and the text: Nový Hrozenkov, 3.9.2014, the cover 2: a wildcat (Felis silvestris) and the text: Horní Bečva 3.9.2014, the cover 3: brown beur (Ursus arctos) and the text Velké Karlovice 3.9.2014, the last cover 4: a wolf (Canis lupus) and the text: Rožnov pod Radhoštěm 3.9.2014. The covers are printed by recess print from flat plates in dark green (1), brown-violet (2), brown-black (3) and blue (4).
The stamps are valid from 3rd September, 2014.
On the 3th September, 2014 also 4 Cartes maximum with pictures of fauna and flora of the Beskid Mountains will be issued to complete this issue.
Česká pošta, s.p.