Who we are

The First National Park of Brazil, Itatiaia was created in June 14, 1937, by Decree no.1.713 by President Getúlio Vargas, from the Biological Station of the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, which had been created in 1928. Initially with an area of 11,943 hectares, has been expanded to approximately 28,000 hectares in September 20, 1982, through Decree No. 87,586.

The Itatiaia National Park (PNI) is a Conservation Unit and integral protection.
Is part of the Conservation Unit Mosaic of the Mantiqueira. According to Ordinance No 351/2006, the Ministry of Environment. The Ecological Corridor of the Mantiqueira, which is inserted in the Serra do Mar Corridor and is part of the Biosphere Reserve of the Atlantic Forest, been recognized by UNESCO, and is classified by the Environment Ministry high priority area for the conservation of biodiversity, as the 2007 review (http://mapas.mma.gov.br).

Situated at the Mantiqueira Mountains on the border of the states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The park covers parts of two cities in Rio de Janeiro: Itatiaia and Resende and two in Minas Gerais: Itamonte and Bocaina de Minas.

Predominates the mountainous and rocky elevations, with altitude between 540 and 2791 meters at its highest point, the Peak of Agulhas Negras.

The Itatiaia stands out for its water abundance, being called "Castle of Water" by the geographer Aziz Ab'Saber. In the Park area are the headwaters of 12 important regional watersheds that draining into two principal basins: the North to the Grand River, affluent of the Paraná River, and south to the Paraíba do Sul River, the most important of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

The unit has a high degree of vulnerability, representing a "conservation island" of biodiversity between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the two largest cities of the country.

The vegetation is inside the context of the Atlantic Forest biome and modified gradually according to the altitude. In the lower areas, dominated by dense forest, with exuberant flora and fauna. At the highest areas the trees and shrubs give way to low vegetation characterized the Altitude Fields where the flora is mainly of grasses that survive the conditions of intense cold, frost and formation of ice crusts.

The Itatiaia has approximately 5,000 species of insects, 384 birds and 50 mammals and numerous reptiles and amphibians, many of which are endemic or at risk of becoming extinct, as Flamenguinho sapo (Melanophryniscus moreirae), the brown ounce or suçuarana (Puma concolor), the Muriqui - moolly spider monkey (Brachyteles hypoxanthus), among others.

Birds have great importance for the Unit, both from an ecological point of view, as by its tourist potential. The Itatiaia National Park is considered one of the world's best to practice "birdwatching". Currently we recorded approximately 384 species, of which 51 are endemic (Birdwatching Guide Niiranen & Honkala, 2010) and 42 species living at high altitudes (IBAMA, 1994).

Among the species of flora, we can emphasize the Araucaria (Araucaria angustifolia), which has its natural occurrence in this region more to the North in Brazil, the endemic species Piper itatiaianum, Itatiaia cleistopetala, Fernsea itatiaiae plus numerous species characteristics of high fields including rupicolous.