Chapada das Mesas National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional da Chapada das Mesas) is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in the state of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

, Brazil. It was created to preserve the untouched

cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...

vegetation of the region, and as a barrier against the advance of farming.

Location

The park has an area of and is in the

Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...

biome. It was created on 12 December 2005, and is administered by the

Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...

. The park lies in the municipalities of Riachão, Estreito and Carolina in the state of Maranhão. Average annual rainfall is , Temperatures range from with an average of . The highest point is above sea level. The vegetation is characteristically that of the Cerrado, but includes open areas of grassland. The terrain includes hills and plateaus. The main rivers are the

Farinha River The Farinha River is a river of Maranhão state in northeastern Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Maranhão List of rivers in Maranhão (Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drainage basin from east to west, with respective tributaries ...

in the north part and the Itapecuru River in the south, both fed by many springs and streams in the park. The park is in the Chapada das Mesas region, which has significant tourist potential due its pleasant climate, sandstone cliffs with rock carvings, many waterfalls and other attractions. Most of the attractions are in areas where the environment has been modified or which have large human populations, so are outside the park. Within the park the two main tourist attractions for many years were the São Romão and Prata waterfalls. The park is not open to visitors.

Conservation

As a national park the basic objectives are preservation of natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, enabling scientific research, educational activities, outdoor recreation and eco-tourism. The park was created primarily because it is an untouched Cerrado area that is threatened by the recent expansion of the agricultural frontier in Maranhão. It also contains more than 400 springs of important waterways. Protected species in the park include the

oncilla The oncilla (''Leopardus tigrinus''), also known as the northern tiger cat, little spotted cat, and tigrillo, is a small spotted cat ranging from Central America to central Brazil. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and the popul ...

(Leopardus tigrinus),

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

(Leopardus pardalis),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...

(Puma concolor),

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. It is one of four living species of anteaters, of which it is the largest member. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecopha ...

(Myrmecophaga tridactyla),

bare-faced curassow The bare-faced curassow (''Crax fasciolata'') is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, guans, curassows, etc. It is found in Brazil, Paraguay, and eastern Bolivia, and extreme northeast Argentina, in the cerrado, pantanal, an ...

(Crax fasciolata) and

Chaco eagle The Chaco eagle (''Buteogallus coronatus'') or crowned solitary eagle, is an endangered bird of prey from eastern and central South America. Typically it is known simply as the crowned eagle which leads to potential confusion with the African '' ...

(Buteogallus coronatus). Image:Cachoeira da Prata.jpg, Prata waterfall Image:Cachoeira Sao Romao.jpg, São Romão waterfall

Notes

Sources

* * {{authority control 2005 establishments in Brazil National parks of Brazil Protected areas of Maranhão Cerrado