Jan Stráský named the new director of the Administration of the Šumava National Par and Protected Landscape Area

Press release: 14.02.2011

As of 16 February 2011, Minister Tomáš Chalupa appointed a former Deputy Prime Minister and the current head of the council of the Šumava Park, Mr. Jan Stráský, as the new Director of the Šumava National Park and Protected Landscape Area. Former politician Stráský will have a limited mandate – he should stay in the office for no more than 18 months.

In January the selection committee of the Ministry recommended to Minister Chalupa three candidates for the office of Director of the National Park – Pavel Kitzberger, Jiří Mánek and Jaroslav Obermajer. “Although their opinions held my interest, every one of them is an expert in a certain specific area and, as of now, I resolved to appoint Mr. Stráský as the Director of the Šumava National Park – he should assume the role of a crisis manager with a clearly delimited substantive and temporal mandate,” said the Minister, Tomáš Chalupa.

The main tasks of the new Director of the National Park would include, according to the Minister of the Environment, the creation of a plan of defensive measures for conservation of the forest and the subsequent establishment of the management plan so as to most effectively prevent any further spreading of the bark beetle. The new Director will also have to lay down new visitor rules, as the current ones expire on 30 April 2011.

“There are 22 municipalities in Šumava that are affected by the park or the protected landscape area in their everyday lives. This makes the park exceptional, as the interests of the individual stakeholders mutually extremely differ. In this situation, a scientist must perceive the interests of inhabitants, tourists must respect the scientists, and so on,” emphasised Stráský.

Mr. Stráský should also resolve the issue of the park’s senior management – according to the Minister, it is necessary to introduce a system to management of the park and also to the Administration of the Šumava NP – clear rules must be set in this respect. “In this sense, I asked Mr. Stráský that, already during this temporary management of the park, he invite to the new management team some of the participants in the selection procedure for the Director of the Administration of the Šumava National Park and allow for their further professional development. During the term of Mr. Stráský’s mandate, I would like to establish a clear candidate for the director for the next term,” added the Minister, who denoted the lack of trust amongst the stakeholders as the main problem in respect of further development of the park.

The new management of the Administration of the Šumava NP and PLA will also need to submit a draft Act on the National Park – the Act should clearly and comprehensibly delimit the zones, the basic rules of protection and further protective conditions, set the rules for management in forests, as well as rules for the development of municipalities.

Michaela Jendeková, tiskové oddělení MŽP