Divided between three neighbouring European powers, in 1795 Poland disappeared from the map of Europe. In this exceptionally difficult time the Polish nation discovered a new source of the nation's identity, as important as history, culture and religion - the native land and its wildlife. Due to the partitioners' divergent policies and the predominant absence of any conservation strategy, private initiatives came to the fore. Among them were: protection and inventory of natural monuments, designating first nature reserves, launching legal protection of certain species for scientific reasons (a pioneering act on a global scale) and introducing wildlife conservation to university syllabuses.
In spite of the turmoils of the First World War, efforts were commenced to merge the three former concepts of environment management into one coherent system. Right after Poland regained independence in 1918, the issues of wildlife conservation started to be included in legal documents pertaining to all aspects of life. Accepted as a new scientific discipline, wildlife conservation flourished. The first academic textbook was published, an arduous and difficult international programme for the European Bison reintroduction was launched and many nature reserves were designated. The dramatic fight to save the Tatra Mountains from encroaching devastation and declare it as the Tatra National Park proved to be essential in shaping the circles of Polish conservationists in the interwar period. Ustawa o Ochronie Przyrody (The Nature Protection Act), introduced in 1934 as one of the most comprehensive and innovative in contemporary Europe, was the crowning achievement of the unremitting effort of the most eminent scientists and activists, such as Professor Władysław Szafer, Professor Jan Gwalbert Pawlikowski and Professor Stanisław Sokołowski.
Unification of the lands that had been separated for more than a century into one political entity was an overwhelming challenge. The immediate actions taken in the field of wildlife conservation, viewed as a thing of marginal significance compared to other problems of national importance, clearly demonstrate the exceptional determination of Polish naturalists, for whom the protection of natural heritage was synonymous to patriotism understood as the deep love for their native land.