In a region that has been sub­ject­ed to severe glacia­tion, these parks and reserves, with their steep gorges, cov­er­ing an area of over 1 mil­lion ha, con­sti­tute one of the last expans­es of tem­per­ate rain­for­est in the world. Remains found in lime­stone caves attest to the human occu­pa­tion of the area for more than 20,000 years.