Šumava Protected Landscape Area, Nature reserve in South Bohemia, Czech Republic

The Šumava Protected Landscape Area covers 995 km² of southwestern Czechia, from the Víteň valley at 498 m to the Boubín summit at 1,362 m. It surrounds the Šumava National Park as a buffer zone and also takes in Boubín and the Královský hvozd with Černé and Čertovo lakes. Forests cover 57.6% of its area, farmland 27.4%.

The area received protection status in 1963 following major shifts in population after World War II. The location near the border and depopulation allowed the forest to develop its current composition.

The area protects a landscape shaped by centuries of human use, where nature conservation overlaps with farming and settlement. About 21,000 people live in the CHKO outside the national park, in roughly 4,500 registered houses, and 27.4% of that land is agricultural, including meadows and pastures.

The CHKO administration is based in Sušice, with offices in Nýrsko, Kašperské Hory, Vimperk and Horní Planá. The area outside the national park covers 99,624 ha, from 498 m at Víteň to 1,362 m at Boubín. About 21,000 people live here, roughly 22 per km².

The Multerberské rašeliniště peat bog, a protected area of 9.12 hectares, is regularly visited by European elk, which wander into the Šumava from the neighbouring Bavarian Forest. The CHKO also holds the 677-hectare Boubínský prales, a primeval forest protected since 1858.