1977 Protected where it standsChránená tam, kde stojí

Under communism the estate forests were nationalised, farming was collectivised, and young people went to work in the factories at Tvrdošín and Nižná rather than on the slope. A timber village with no money to rebuild in brick is a village whose old houses survive by accident, and Podbiel's did. In 1977 part of Bobrova raľa was declared a reserve of folk architecture — protected in place, as a street. That was a real choice, because at exactly the same time Orava's best log buildings were being taken apart in other villages and carted to the open-air museum at Brestová above Zuberec. Podbiel is what the other decision looks like: raľa is an old Orava word for a strip of land held by one family, and the houses were built along one such strip and are still on it.Za komunizmu panské lesy zoštátnili, gazdovanie zlúčili do družstva a mladí ľudia chodili za prácou do závodov v Tvrdošíne a Nižnej, nie na stráň. Drevená dedina, ktorá nemá peniaze prestavať sa na murovanú, si staré domy zachová tak trochu náhodou — a Podbiel si ich zachoval. V roku 1977 vyhlásili časť Bobrovej rale za pamiatkovú rezerváciu ľudovej architektúry, teda za chránenú priamo na mieste, ako ulicu. Bolo to skutočné rozhodnutie, pretože v tom istom čase sa najkrajšie oravské zruby v iných obciach rozoberali a odvážali do skanzenu na Brestovej nad Zubercom. Podbiel je to druhé riešenie: raľa je starý oravský výraz pre pás pôdy jednej rodiny a domy postavili pozdĺž jedného takého pásu, kde stoja dodnes.