Stanislav Kučera was a botany enthusiast from his youth. He consulted his floristic finds and other taxonomic questions with botanists at the Museum of South Bohemia from the age of fifteen. During his university studies he focused on geobotany and his MA thesis defended at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in 1966 was about vegetation and regional geographical assessment of the Novohradské Mountains. The thesis later became an important source for the proposal to establish a landscape protected area (CHKO) there.
Kučera worked in several South Bohemian research institutions; he was also the director of the Museum of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. He also actively participated in many environment-protection and nature conservation projects. He helped prepare the documents necessary for the establishment and zoning of large protected areas –CHKO Novohradské Mountains, CHKO Blanský les, CHKO Třeboň region and CHKO and National Park Šumava. Kučera was also the instigator of many official proposals to establish small protected areas in the areas of south-eastern Šumava, Novohradské Mountains, Vyšší Brod and Český Krumlov. In his geobotanical work, Kučera didn`t focus merely on individual plants; he also reflected their historical context and natural conditions, such as soil properties and the complex interplay of the entire ecosystem. The documentation of peatland and spring biotopes was an important part of his work and he was one of the greatest botanical experts of this area. In this context it is noteworthy that he managed to penetrate into restricted and patrolled zones of the so-called Iron Curtain.
During his many excursions, Kučera collected around 15,000 bryophytes (non-vascular plants like mosses) and vascular plants, which he documented in black and white or colour photographs. This collection is now housed in the Museum of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. His scientific involvement in popularisation was also remarkable, as he was able to present botanical topics to the experts, as well as to general public on radio and television.
The Kučera Scenic Viewpoint under the Plechý mountain was named in honour of botanist Stanislav Kučera not long after his death. This was at the instigation of the Šumava National Park rangers, who knew Stanislav Kučera well.
Hejný, S, Pecharová, E.: RNDr. Stanislav Kučera. In: Sborník Jihočeského muzea v Českých Budějovicích, roč. 32, 1992, s. 39–42.
Jeník, J., Chán, V.: RNDr. Stanislav Kučera (1944–1992) – pluralitní geobotanik a kurátor jihočeské přírody. In: Preslia, roč. 65, 1993, s. 269–274.
