In Bavaria, in south-eastern Germany, the country's first national park was founded in 1970. In 1997, its total surface area was extended to now 243 square kilometers. Together with the Šumava National Park (Bohemian Forest), located on its eastern flank, the Bavarian Forest National Park represents central Europe's largest protected closed woodland area. One of the most important political barriers to affect Europe in the second half of the twentieth century was the Iron Curtain, which ran for approximately 6800 km from the northern most tip of Scandinavia, through Central Europe and into the countries of South Eastern Europe, spanning some of the continent's most impressive and fragile landscapes. The Iron Curtain was developed most strongly on the Eastern side of the barrier and created a 'forbidden zone' where no activity was allowed. On the Western side however, close to the border economic development was restricted by the lack of infrastructure. The only positive result of this separation was that nature was given a 40 year respite from the intensive agricultural and development practices that were happening almost everywhere else. Now this border region contains many of Europe's endangered species and important habitats and has been named as the 'European Green Belt'. It is also a region that is extremely important for the livelihoods of many rural communities. The Green Belt then includes the Baltic Sea coast, which is rich in valuable habitats and is a very important region for migrating birds. In Germany, it passes through the area where the Iron Curtain was most obviously enforced, and where the strip of land where human movement was prohibited, it is still clearly visible in the surrounding landscapes Further south at the heart of the Green Belt are found the neighbouring regions of Sumava National Park (Czech Republic) and the Bavarian Forest National Park (Germany), which are predominantly forested and home to the European lynx. Broadcast video footage or highres version & more nature avialable at WWW.STOCKSHOT.NL