The first section of the paper describes activities related to the conservation of inanimate nature in pre-war Poland, with a focus on its south-eastern territories. The chapters which follow present examples of the stepwise process of creation of national parks and reserves, while the final part discusses efforts taken to conserve the non-living nature of the study regions within the borders of Poland and Ukraine after the Second World War. The article emphasises that the idea of nature conservation inculcated in the study areas 100 years ago by several generations of naturalists is still being cultivated and developed.