Altamira National Forest ( pt, Floresta Nacional Altamira) is a

national forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example: * In Australia ...

in the state of

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana a ...

Brazil.

Location

The Altamira National Forest is in the

Amazon biome The Amazon biome ( pt, Bioma Amazônia) contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater and whit ...

. It has an area of . It covers parts of the municipalities of Altamira, Itaituba and

Trairão Trairão is a municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil. Conservation The municipality contains part of the Trairão National Forest, in which logging is permitted subject to a management plan. It contains part of the ...

in the state of Pará. The forest lies in the Amazon lowlands, with altitudes from . The forest spans the watershed between the

Tapajós The Tapajós ( pt, Rio Tapajós ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. It is one of the largest cle ...

and the

Xingu River The Xingu River ( ; pt, Rio Xingu, ; Mẽbêngôkre: ''Byti'', ) is a river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River and one of the largest clearwater rivers in the Amazon basin, accounting for about 5% of its water. ...

. It contains part of the

Curuaés River The Curuaés River is a river of Pará state in north-central Brazil. It is a right tributary of the Curuá River in the Xingu River basin. The river rises in the Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conserv ...

in the Xingu basin. The annual plan of 2009 authorized the grant of four forest management units totalling , which were allocated to two companies with contracts expected to last 40 years and to create about 900 formal jobs, 80% of which would be local.

Environment

Average annual rainfall is . Temperatures range from with an average of . Vegetation is mostly open rainforest with lianas, but also includes dense submontane rainforest and alluvial forest. Rapid ecological assessment studies found 212 species of flora in 145 genera. Endemic fish include

Aspidoras poecilus ''Aspidoras'' is a genus of catfishes of the family Callichthyidae from Brazil. Taxonomy The type species for this genus is '' Aspidoras rochai''. The name ''Aspidoras'' is derived from the Greek ''aspis'' (shield) and ''dora'' (skin). ''Aspido ...

, Microschemobrycon elongatus,

Harttia dissidens ''Harttia dissidens'' is a species of armored catfish endemic to Brazil where it is found in the Tapajós River The Tapajós ( pt, Rio Tapajós ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amaz ...

and

Hopliancistrus tricornis ''Hopliancistrus tricornis'' is the only species of the genus ''Hopliancistrus'' of suckermouth armored catfish. This species reaches a length of SL. It is endemic to Brazil and can be found in the Tapajós and Xingu River basins. This specie ...

. Endemic primates include the

white-cheeked spider monkey The white-cheeked spider monkey (''Ateles marginatus'') is a species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, endemic to Brazil. It moves around the forest canopy in small family groups of two to four, part of larger groups of a few dozen an ...

(Ateles marginatus) and the white marmoset (Mico leucippe).

Conservation

The Altamira National Forest was created by decree nº 2.483 of 2 February 1998, 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 Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), ...

(ICMBio). It is classed as

IUCN protected area category IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources) with the objective of sustainable multiple use of forest resources and scientific research, with emphasis on methods for sustainable exploitation of native forests. Protected species include the

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

(Panthera onca),

giant otter The giant otter or giant river otter (''Pteronura brasiliensis'') is a South American carnivorous mammal. It is the longest member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, a globally successful group of predators, reaching up to . Atypical of musteli ...

(Pteronura brasiliensis) and

Amazonian manatee The Amazonian manatee (''Trichechus inunguis'') is a species of manatee that lives in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. It has thin, wrinkled brownish or gray colored skin, with fine hairs scattered over its body and a whi ...

(Trichechus inunguis). The ecological station is in a region that contains 12 sustainable use conservation areas and 6 fully protected areas. The fully protected areas, which cover , are the Amazônia, Jamanxim, Rio Novo and Serra do Pardo national parks, the

Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve The Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve ( pt, Reserva Biológica Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo) is a biological reserve in the state of Pará, Brazil. The reserve protects an area in the transition between the Cerrado and Amazon bio ...

and the

Terra do Meio Ecological Station Terra do Meio Ecological Station ( pt, Estação Ecológica da Terra do Meio) is an ecological station (ESEC) in the state of Pará, Brazil. Location The Terra do Meio Ecological Station has an area of . It covers parts of the municipalities of ...

. The sustainable use areas include the Tapajós environmental protection area and the Altamira, Amaná, Jamanxim,

, Itaituba I, Itaituba II and

national forests, covering a total of .

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{authority control Protected areas of Pará National forests of Brazil