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Arthabaska campground: available for rustic camping from September 2 to October 13, 2024 Details
Park Experience
A Taste of Québec’s Far North
Since 1981, under the Parks Act, Parc national des Grands-Jardins permanently protects an exceptional part of Québec’s natural heritage, while making it accessible for educational and outdoor purposes.
Discover this 319km2 taste of Québec’s Far North: the beauty of its landscapes shaped by fire, its amazing flora, its harsh climate, and the wildlife that inhabits it.
While staying at the park, you will probably meet its animal emblem, the Spruce Grouse. This bold bird will try to impress you by parading, clucking and spreading its short wings and tail feathers! The male is adorned with large bright red eyebrows, called eyebrow wattles. It is often seen on the hiking trails, and the noise it makes when taking off surprises many hikers!
Click here to find out about the wide range of discovery activities available in the park!
Discover the Park Through Interpretation
Parc national des Grands-Jardins has the potential to inspire wonder! And the best way is to participate in our discovery activities. Through the interpretation of natural and cultural heritage, you’ll learn more about the park and the importance of protecting it.
Among the treasures we hope to share are lush coniferous forests, thick carpets of lichen, and traces left by fires, which will amaze you with their variegated colours. Coureurs des bois have shaped the folklore of Grands-Jardins, and they still live on in its spirit.
To guide us in developing our discovery activities, all the parks have an education plan.
Did you know?
Do You Know Why Sectors That Burned Down 20 Years Ago Are Still Treeless?
Several forest fires have raged in Parc national des Grands-Jardins. Strangely, some sectors, such as the edges of Lac Arthabaska and Lac à Poux, still seem desolate and treeless nearly 20 years after the flames. Heath plants are largely responsible.
Heath plants, such as sheep laurel, are very combative after a forest fire. They can take up all the space, to the detriment of black spruce.
Labrador tea, sheep laurel and blueberries survive fires due to their rhizomes, which are deeply buried in the organic material. These heath plants can then quickly recolonize the environment. Spruce also join in to create a new forest, but the competition is fierce.
Heath plants slow the growth of conifers by appropriating the nutrients from the soil thanks to their large underground biomass and other adaptations like allelopathy and mycorrhiza.