National Parks of Poland

There are 23 national parks in Poland. These were formerly run by the Polish Board of National Parks (Polish: "Krajowy Zarząd Parków Narodowych"), but in 2004 responsibility for them was transferred to the Ministry of the Environment. Most national parks are divided into strictly and partially protected zones. Additionally, they are usually surrounded by a protective buffer zone called "otulina".
In Poland, as amended by the Nature Conservation Act, 2004, a national park "covers an area of outstanding environmental, scientific, social, cultural and educational value, with an area of not less than 1000 ha, which protects the whole of the nature and qualities of the landscape. A national park is created to preserve biodiversity, resources, objects and elements of inanimate nature and landscape values, to restore the proper state of natural resources and components and to reconstruct distorted natural habitats, plants, habitats of animals and habitats of fungi."
The area of a national park is divided into different zones using separate methods of conservation. There are strict protection zones, as well as active and landscape-related ones.
The areas bordering national parks have been designated as buffer zones. The buffer zone can include protective areas of game animals, in which hunting is not permitted. National parks are available to visit, but only in designated areas, and along specific trails, roads, and paths.
National Parks of Poland are funded from the central budget. They are managed by the directors, as an advisory body to the council of the park. On April 30, 2004 parks were supervised by the National Board of National Parks. From 1 May 2004, the duties were taken over by the Ministry of the Environment - Department of Forestry, Nature Conservation and Landscape and since January 19, 2007 by the Independent Department for Natura 2000 Areas and National Parks. After the establishment of GDOŚ and RDOŚ on October 15, 2008, the supervision of the parks is exercised by the Conservation Department of the Ministry of the Environment.
The Polish national parks have carried out numerous research programs and they play an important role in the ecological education of the society. The national parks can be visited as they provide a well-developed tourism infrastructure. Many of them offer specially prepared trails, educational centres and natural history museums.
Sources.
Legal documents.
Ordinances issued by the Polish Council of Ministers, establishing individual national parks (all in Polish, in PDF format).
Websites.
Official websites of individual national parks