A report by B. Hallmann on behalf of the Secretariat for the National Council for City-planning and the Environment of the Ministry of Coordination, carried out with the assistance of the IUCN/WWF and published in 1979 mobilized the Greek government and in 1980 by a joint ministerial decision the protected area of Dadia was established. This area consists of two cores which are very strictly protected and most human activities prohibited, besides those characterized as traditional uses of land. These two cores, of area 6400 and 800 hectares each are surrounded by 39000 hectares of peripheral zone. In 1985 Helmer and Schotte published the results of their research on the species of reptiles in Evros and specifically in the forest of Dadia and concluded that the number of species and the population densities are unique in Europe. It was for this reason that they suggested the more efficient management of the area and its incorporation in a European network for biogenetic reserves. In 1987 with the assistance of the European Community, the Greek state initiated a series of management programmes. The lack of food was deemed one of the principal reasons for the decrease of the vultures population and thus a suitable area was fenced in order to become a safe trough for the birds. On the tope of a hill facing the trough an observatory was built, from where the visitors may watch the vultures and the eagles.

The area of the Forest of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli is now included in the Greek NATURA 2000 list, while it is also one of the 27 protected areas for which a management operator has been established. In 2006 by a joint ministerial decision the area was pronounced a National Park under the name “National Park of the Forest of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli”.

 The Management Operator of the National Park of the Forest of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli is active since 2003 and operates the Information Kiosk with three guides for the visitors. While the operator was financed by the Operational Programme “Environment”, in 2007 it was manned with scientific personnel (two foresters – environmentalists) in the context of a project financed by the operational programme for Community Initiative INTERREG ΙΙΙΑ/PHARE – CBC  GREECE-BULGARIA. In the context of the aforementioned programme the Operator implements the project “Cross-border Centre for the Documentation of the Natural Environment” which includes the creation and pilot operation of a documentation centre for the natural environment in the cross-border region of Eastern Rhodope.