Natural History
Gaspésie National Park (French: Parc national de la Gaspésie) is the second-oldest provincial park in Quebec, established in 1937. The park is located to the south of the town of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada, in the interior of the Gaspé peninsula. The park covers approximately 803 km² and is the sixth largest national park in Quebec. Mi'kmaq indigenous groups have seasonally inhabited the Haute-Gaspésie region for at least 10,000 years. French settlers arrived in the surrounding regions in the 17th century, followed by British settlement in the 18th century. Most early settlement occurred in the coastal regions of the peninsula, with the complex terrain of the interior limiting European settlement and human disturbance in the region until the 19th century "era of discovery" expeditions. The park contains two distinct mountain ranges: the Chic-Choc Mountains to the west and the McGerrigle Mountains to the east. The McGerrigle mountains contain the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountain range in Canada, Mont Jacques-Cartier, which sits at 1,270 metres above sea level. The two mountain ranges combined encompass more than 25 mountain peaks above 1,000 metres. The park is bordered to the west by the Chic-Chocs Wildlife Reserve and to the east by the Matane Wildlife Reserve. The climate is characterized as subarctic, with cool temperatures and high precipitation. Dominant vegetation is characteristic of the boreal forest ecosystem, with three distinct vegetation zones, the montane, subalpine, and alpine zones occurring along altitudinal gradients. Rare, endemic plant species inhabit high altitude tundra environments, along with the last remaining Caribou populations (Rangifer tarandus caribou) south of the St. Lawrence River in Canada.
Alejandro de Humboldt National Park.
Communal wildlife conservancies in Namibia.
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