public (including all gminas of the Tuchola County, the Tuchola County itself, as well as three gminas of the Świecie County), private (including commercial) and NGO sectors, which acted under the Local Action Plan as an operator of funds distributed from the LEADER programme of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development in the years 2007-2013. Beginning from the EU budget perspective 2014-2020 onwards, the law restricted the permitted legal form of LEADER/CLLD local action groups to an association (and not a union of associations), and therefore, the entity lost the official status of LEADER local action group. As a replacement, a new LEADER/CLLD programme local operator, the Partnership ″Local Action Group Tuchola Forest″ (technically a registered association), was established by local entities (this time only those located in the territory of the Tuchola County), including local self-government units, as well as private entities (including commercial ones) and those from the NGO sector. The original union of associations continues, however, its activities as a forum of discussion and cooperation in the entire region in- and outside the territory of Tuchola County, in forms such as conferences, training courses or contests, albeit funded from sources other than the LEADER programme, such as the funds received form territorial self-government units or government institutions. Similarly, the ″Borowiak Fishie″ Fishieries Local Action Group association operates the funds for the development of fisheries and fishing communities, allocated from the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund. Other importąnt regional organizations include the Cultural Society of Borowiacy in Tuchola, the ″Promotion of Tuchola Forest″ Society for Regional Development, as well as the ″Tuchola Forest″ Association of Agri-Tourism Holdings. History The area formed part of Poland since the establishment of the state in the 10th century, with a brief interruption during the occupation by the Teutonic Order State at the end of the 14th century. After the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the area was annexed by Prussia, and from 1871 it was part of the German Empire. Under German rule, near the village of Grupa, a military exercise area Truppenübungsplatz Gruppe was established, in which medical research was conducted, leading to publication of the name in scientific reports of the early 20th century. During World War I, pacifist doctor Georg Friedrich Nicolai was banished from Berlin to the remote area which had to be restored in 1919 to Poland as a result of the Treaty of