In 1929, Tohoku University established the Mount Hakkōda Plant Experimentation Laboratory near Sukayu Onsen. The mountains, along with the Lake Towada area, were set aside under the National Park Law as a protected part of Towada National Park in 1936. On 3 August 1953, the national park was expanded, extending its protected status to the Tashiro Plateau Wetland in the caldera of the Northern Group of the Hakkōda Mountains.