Cultural landscapes have developed within the process of interactions of local human populations with specific natural conditions of the place these populations are situated in. A population actively changes the environment and at the same time adapts to it, but both only to a certain extent. When the pressure of natural or cultural environment exceeds certain limits, people leave the area. The article is aimed at describing the response of the local population to the extreme pressure cansed by external factors. Population size, i.e. the number of people residing in the model area was chosen as the basic indicator. For this case study the local population was chosen inhabiting the area situated between the right shore of Lipno water reservoir and the Austrian border. Two periods can be distinguished in the history of local population since the beginning of this century. Until 1946 the population was more or less resisting to economic pressure which caused the marginal position of the urea, and the n umber of inhabitants remained almost unchanged. The dramatic decrease of inhabitant numbers in 1946 and later, has never been compensated, mainly due to political decisions made by the central government.