Chapada dos Guimarães National Park is a Brazilian conservation unit, located in the state of Mato Grosso, in the municipalities of Chapada dos Guimarães and Cuiabá, which received the federal den through Decree 97.656, of April 12, 1989. It has an area total of 33,000 hectares. It is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).
Historic
The origins of the park date back to
September 13, 1910, when the vice president of Mato Grosso, Colonel
Pedro Celestino Corrêa da Costa, worried about the devastation of
vegetation at the headwaters of the Coxipó-açu, Manso and Cuiabá
rivers, declared that the area it was one of public utility. In
1984, a coalition of state environmentalists, artists and
intellectuals launched a petition to protest the government's act of
creating a nearby tourist complex. In February 1986, a national
campaign was launched by NGOs to ask President Jose Sarney to create
the national park.
The park was finally created on April 12,
1989 by Law 97,656, with 32,630 hectares (80,600 acres). It is found
in the municipalities of Cuiabá and Chapada dos Guimarães. The
objective is to protect significant samples of local ecosystems and
to ensure the preservation of natural and archaeological sites by
supporting appropriate use for visits, education and research.
Geography
The park is in the Pantanal Biosphere Reserve,
which also includes the Pantanal, Emas and Serra da Bodoquena
National Parks, as well as the Santa Bárbara Mountains, Taquari
Springs and the Negro River Wetlands. The park is in the Paraguay
River basin, protecting the headwaters of the Cuiabá River, one of
the main feeders of the Mato Grosso Pantanal.
The
geographical center of South America, formerly considered in the
city of Cuiabá (where it is marked by a white marble obelisk), is in
fact located in the park near the town of Chapada dos Guimarães, in
the Geodesy Lookout.
Environment
The climate is tropical,
with temperatures ranging from 12 to 25 ° C and annual precipitation
from 1,800 to 2,000 millimeters. Rain falls mostly in spring and
summer, with some rain in fall and winter. The park's terrain is
characterized by large hills and red sandstone cliffs ranging from
600 to 800 meters in height. Visitor attractions include mountain
peaks, waterfalls and caves.
Wildlife includes the jaguar,
pampas deer, howler monkey, tapir, giant anteater, giant armadillo,
maned wolf, rhea and seriema. Parrots, swallows and macaws nest on
sandstone cliffs. The park is threatened by fires in the cold, dry
and windy period of the year, often caused by human activities near
or in the park. Lightning does not seem to be a major cause as it is
usually followed by rain.