Šumava – boasting national park status for three decades
The idea of creating a National Park in the Šumava Protected Landscape Area was politically impossible under the Communists, as the area was literally on the Iron Curtain. However, it was achieved 30 years ago, on March 20, 1991, after the return to democracy.
Prior to the 1989 Velvet Revolution there were two military zones in what is today the Šumava National Park, which borders Germany and Austria.
At 68,000 hectares it is the largest of the Czech Republic’s four national parks. Apart from mountain spruces and forests, it boasts moors, peat bogs and karst lakes, as well as the springs of the Vltava River.
Šumava is also home to many species of animal and the national park recently started monitoring the European elk; according to estimates, there are approximately 15 of them in and around the area.
The Šumava National Park also has a number of programs for nature lovers, such as beaver and wolf expeditions, while there is a wolf centre by the village of Srní.
