Québec National Parks, one of the three magnificent Sépaq Networks

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	Conservation Mission

History

"That was where strong souls were made" Félix-Antoine Savard

The development of the area began in the 19th century with the construction of a settlement road intended to link Charlevoix and the Saguenay. The present day route to the park still follows certain sections of the original Sainte-Agnès road.
As the Charlevoix coast was a popular vacation resort in the early 20th century, rich tourists explored the backcountry with local guides. One of these visitors was the Ontario writer and financier William Hume Blake, who described his love for the Hautes-Gorges in several books.

Later, logging companies used the rivers to float logs downstream. Roads were cut through the forest to the logging and log driving sites. It was this period that Monseigneur Félix-Antoine Savard's novel Menaud, maître draveur ("Menaud the Log Driver") describes. In the book, Menaud is a larger-than-life character who lives and works in a land where nature is bigger and stronger than he. This giant land is the country that foreign logging companies seek to steal away from its inhabitants.

Sore muscles from the dangerous work and soaking wet clothes difficult to dry in the evening by the fire - such was the loggers' daily lot. Like Menaud, they drove logs down the river from dawn to dusk, risking their lives. Timber driving continued on Rivière Malbaie until 1985, and traces of it can still be seen, especially at Écluse des Érables, which was built in 1958 and restored after the torrential rains of July 1996.

In the 1960s and 1970s, outdoor recreational activities began in the Hautes-Gorges. The Association de développement des Hautes-Gorges was set up in 1985 to organize and oversee recreational activities in the gorges. The Parc régional des Hautes-Gorges was officially created on September 13, 1988. Tour boat cruises began operating at the same time. A number of hiking trails and campsites were also added to the existing facilities.

In 1988, UNESCO designated the site as the core area of the Charlevoix World Biosphere Reserve

In 1993, the Réserve écologique des Grands-Ormes was created on Montagne des Érables to protect the giant ancient elm trees.

In 2000, the provincial government officially created Parc national des Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie, the twentieth park in the Parcs Québec network.