The classing of one third of the departement of Ardèche into a Regional Natural Park in April 2001 was proof of the national interest shown for the Monts of Ardèche.
The riches and the fragility of the land, concern for lasting preservation and development: those are the criteria which have led this zone on the eastern border of the Massif Central to obtain this mark of quality.
The project to constitute a natural regional Park, in gestation for 10 years, was born at the initiative of the chestnut producers.
The identity of the Monts d'Ardèche rests on strong common characteristics: the landscapes, rural know-how, the volcanism, the rivers, blueberry and chestnut production, the religious history, the mills and milling business, the land terraces, etc.
Today, the policies of the Park are structured around 5 missions: the protection of its heritage; regional development; economic, social and cultural development; the carrying out of experimental projects; and the welcome and education of the public.
The Park offers exhibitions like those of the Moulin de Mandy in Pranles, that about the history of the "Route Royale" called "the Dragonnades" presented in the Temple of the Fival in Saint-Etienne-de-Serres and just recently the exhibition on spring waters of the Monts d'Ardèche set up in September 2005 in a former bottling factory in Marcols-les-Eaux.
As to hiking, footpaths are open to families who can, in the course of a half-day's walk, discover the heritage of the Monts d'Ardèche; the last to date, that of Désaignes, is entitled "Ages and usages of the chestnut grove" and can be followed with the aid of "visit discs" (in reference to the old parking discs) with magnificently illustrated questions and answers.
The "Paths of creation" offered around Lamastre and the region of Beaume-Drobie are sooner followed by car, as an incentive to visit craftspeople in those areas and to discover exhibitions sometimes found in out of the ordinary spots (in the micro-brewwery of Lamastre, for example).