A land of high peaks, glaciers, and deep valleys, Oisans is home to the Écrins National Park, considered the first French national park. It was officially created in March 1973 at the instigation of mountaineers, naturalist associations, and the French Alpine Club and marked the opening of Oisans, a mountaineering territory, to discovery tourism. This high mountain territory with complex architecture alternates peaks, ridges, large icy walls, arid scree, and short-lawned mountain pastures. Since 1995, it also includes the 1,730 acres (700 ha) of Lauvitel, which constitute the first French integral reserve within a national park.