 The study examines forest cover and disturbance changes in heavily polluted or mountains, Czechia, Central Europe, during the second half of the 20th century and beyond, analysing the driving forces behind these changes with reference to environmental, societal and political development in the region. Anthropogenic air pollution, primarily SO2 from nearby coal burning industry, caused extensive forest decline, especially between the 1970s and 1980s. The most affected tree species was Norway's Bruce, which proved to be remarkably sensitive to pollution. Landsat time series and a combination of an integrated forest set score and disturbance index, DI, were used to analyse forest cover change and disturbance development from 1985 to 2016. The forest cover reached its minimum in 1994, but the breakdown of communism in the 1990s led to fulfilling EU pollution standards via air protection regulations, power plant desulfurisation and forest management measures which were the main drivers of the forest recovery. However, fluctuations in forest cover and DI have continued during the last decade, with forests weakened by old loads being prone to new stress factors. Landsat time series represent a powerful data source for monitoring the impact of these drivers on forests on a regional scale. The study finds that the interactions of persisting driving forces, soil acidification, adverse meteorological events, climate change factors, air pollution, tree species composition and physiological state, best outbreaks, still threaten the forests in both parts of the ore mountains, which remain moderately damaged despite societal and political driving forces. This article was authored by El Kupkova, Mpokkova, Zlotykova and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.