ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the highly polarized, locally contingent and historically embedded character of environmental policies in Sumava National Park. Debates over current understandings and the future course of nature protection efforts in the area reveal socio-ecological formations and economic relations well beyond the remit of traditional conservation approaches. The existence of a close correlation between the local population's perceptions of Sumava National Park as home, versus its functions as a national park and environmental management institution coupled with their relatively negative appraisal of its nature protection regime. It can be attributed to the specific combination of historical developments and current circumstances in the region. The ability of the organization to develop a productive relationship with local communities is further aggravated by numerous structural issues inherited from the past, including the nature of park zoning, past choices of environmental management strategies to deal with the bark beetle infestation, as well as the restitution of historical property to communities.
