Location: Santa Catarina Map
Area: 57374 ha
Tel. 55 (47) 3326-1527/ 3329-5887
Email: parnaserradoitajai@icmbio.gov.br
The Serra do Itajaí National Park is a Brazilian conservation unit
of integral nature protection located in the state of Santa
Catarina, with territory distributed through the municipalities of
Ascurra, Apiúna, Blumenau, Botuverá, Gaspar, Guabiruba, Indaial,
Presidente Nereu and Vidal. branches.
History
Serra do
Itajaí was created through a Federal Decree, issued by the
Presidency of the Republic on June 4, 2004 and published in the
Federal Official Gazette on June 7, 2004, with an area of 57,374
ha. The Federal Decree of February 20, 2006 revised the limits of
the park. The park is currently managed by the Chico Mendes
Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).
Characterization of the area
The Serra do Itajaí National Park
(PARNA da Serra do Itajaí) is located entirely in the Vale do
Itajaí, in Santa Catarina, covering an area of 57,374 ha of
Atlantic Forest, distributed in nine municipalities: Blumenau, with
17.32 % of the area, Indaial, with 32.30% of the area, Apiúna, with
17.50% of the area, Ascurra, with 0.09% of the area, Presidente
Nereu, with 8.55% of the area, Vidal Ramos, with 2, 13% of the area,
Botuverá, with 10.86% of the area, Guabiruba, with 9.11% of the
area, and Gaspar, with 2.12% of the area.
The Spitzkopf hill
is an integral part of the conservation unit, as a "Integral
Protection Conservation Unit", which allows public use, as the
federal government until 2017 did not compensate the owners of the
land on which the elevation extends; even access to the summit is
granted upon payment to the private company that explores the hill
for tourism.
It is limited to the south by the Itajaí-mirim
river, the municipalities of Botuverá, Presidente Nereu and Vidal
Ramos, with an indentation in the Lageado Alto and Lageado Baixo
communities, in the municipality of Botuverá; to the west with the
Neise and Jundiá streams, in the municipality of Apiúna; to the east
with the Siberian mountain range, in the municipalities of Gaspar
and Guabiruba; and to the north with the Encano stream, in the
municipality of Indaial, with an indentation in the Nova Russia
community, in the municipality of Blumenau.
The Serra do
Itajaí PARNA is located in the Itajaí river basin, located in the
northeast portion of the state of Santa Catarina. The Serra do
Itajaí PARNA covers an important area of the basin, as it houses
the headwaters of the main streams that supply the nine
municipalities in which it is located.
The Serra do Itajaí
PARNA encompasses a representative area of the Atlantic Forest
biome, comprising formations of dense submontane, montane and high
montane rainforest. The Serra do Itajaí PARNA represents 0.05% of
the original total area of the Atlantic Forest biome in Brazil and
0.55% of the remaining area of Atlantic Forest. It is one of the
three large forest fragments that still exist in Santa Catarina,
geographically situated between the Serra do Tabuleiro state park,
to the south, and the Serra da Dona Francisca, to the north. The
Serra do Itajaí PARNA area represents 2.5% of the Atlantic forest
remnants of Santa Catarina, in addition to being the second largest
conservation unit for integral nature protection in southern Brazil.