Working with previously unused (archival and printed) sources, we will reconstruct the agency of the aristocratic landowners of Böhmerwald (historical name for a forested territory known today as Šumava in Czechia, Bayerischer Wald in Germany and Böhmerwald in Austria) in relation to nature in a period marked by two windstorms (1868 and 1929). During this period, the community significantly transformed its environment due to the processes of industrialisation and technological modernisation. Böhmerwald is the largest continuous forested area in Central Europe and a model example of a transnational interaction of society with natural environment. Due to the existence of a strong cultural narrative about bark beetle outbreaks, it is an ideal area for historical research. The environmental strategies of the aristocratic landowners of Böhmerwald will be interdisciplinary analysed using a methodology of social and cultural ecology and environmental history.
