About 40 islands lie within the reserve, part of the Eastern St. Lawrence Lowlands natural region. With the islands and smaller islets paralleling the mainland, at an average distance of about 3.5 kilometres, the archipelago stretches some 150 kilometres along the north shore of the St Lawrence. The grottoes, fossils, cliffs and monoliths are all part of the island®s unique landscape, this diverse environment providing habitats for a wide variety of plant life and wildlife both on land and in the sea. The first people, the Montagnais Innu, attracted by the marine resources, initiated the island®s rich human history at least 2000 years ago. Today, the Montagnais descendants have been significantly involved in the establishment and management of the park.