Environment minister: Quarter of Šumava National Park area could become off-limits zone

About a quarter of the Šumava National Park may become off-limits to any human intervention, Environment Minister Tomáš Chalupa said on Thursday at a Czech Senate debate. He is currently preparing a new piece of legislation that will introduce a set of national park regulations. The minister is set to discuss it with environmental experts and regional authorities’ representatives on August 25. However, environmental experts, who have been protesting a recent motion of the park management to fell hundreds of bark-beetle infested trees, say that at least 30 percent of the park should be declared an off-limits zone. Plzeň’s regional authorities have suggested that 18 percent of the park be made a no-intervention area. The environment minister has called on both sides to compromise.