The Grande Sertão Veredas National Park () is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

located on the border between the states of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

and

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

, Brazil.

Location

The park is in the

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

biome. It covers an area of 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 a government agency under the administration of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. It is nam ...

. It was created by decree nº 97.658 of 12 April 1989, revised on 21 May 2004. It is in the municipality of

Formoso, Minas Gerais Formoso is a municipality in northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It is located northeast of Brasília, in a pocket where the boundaries of the states of Minas Gerais, Goiás, and Bahia come together. Formoso is part of the statistical micro-regio ...

. Altitude ranges from . Annual rainfall averages . Temperature ranges from with average . The park contains forests, savannah, cerrado and dense cerrado. There are extensive streams (''veredas'') which can form oxbow lakes or larger rivers. The terrain contains extensive sandstone plateaus covered in savannah vegetation with lower drainage areas holding the streams. The park contains much of the upper basin of the

Carinhanha River The Carinhanha River () is a river of Bahia and Minas Gerais states in eastern Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Bahia *List of rivers of Minas Gerais List of rivers in Minas Gerais (States of Brazil, Brazilian State). The list is arranged by ...

and of the sub-basins of its tributaries such as the Itaguari, Mato Grande, Preto and Canabrava.

Conservation

The park 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 ...

II (national park). As a national park it has the basic objectives of preserving natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, enabling scientific research, environmental education, outdoor recreation and eco-tourism. Specifically the park aims to preserve the basin of the

, an important tributary of the

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...

, to preserve the streams and landscape described in the novel

The Devil to Pay in the Backlands ''The Devil to Pay in the Backlands'' (, "Great Backlands: Paths"; also translated as ''The Great Backlands and Their Paths'') is a novel published in 1956 by the Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa. The original title refers to the ''ve ...

(in Portuguese ''Grande Sertão: Veredas'') by

João Guimarães Rosa João Guimarães Rosa (; 27 June 1908 – 19 November 1967) was a Brazilian novelist, short story writer, poet and diplomat. Rosa only wrote one novel, '' Grande Sertão: Veredas'' (known in English as ''The Devil to Pay in the Backlands''), a ...

, and also to preserve the flora and endemic fauna of the Cerrado. Protected species in the park include the

maned wolf The maned wolf (''Chrysocyon brachyurus'') is a large canine of South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay, and is almost extinct in Uruguay. Its markings resemble those of a red fox, but it is neither a fox nor ...

(''Chrysocyon brachyurus''),

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

(''Panthera onca''),

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

(''Puma concolor''),

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted Felidae, wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, Central and South America, ...

(''Leopardus pardalis''),

colocolo The Pampas cat (''Leopardus colocola'') is a small wild cat native to South America. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List as habitat conversion and destruction may cause the population to decline in the future. It is named aft ...

(''Leopardus colocolo''),

Brazilian merganser The Brazilian merganser (''Mergus octosetaceus'') is a South American diving duck in the ''Mergus'' genus. It is one of the most threatened waterfowl species in the world, with possibly fewer than 250 birds in the wild and a small number kept ...

(''Mergus octosetaceus''),

marsh deer The marsh deer (''Blastocerus dichotomus'') is a species of deer native to South America. It is the largest living species of South American deer. This is the only species in the genus ''Blastocerus''. Distribution It is found in Argentin ...

(''Blastocerus dichotomus''),

giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the or ...

(''Myrmecophaga tridactyla''),

giant armadillo The giant armadillo (''Priodontes maximus''), colloquially ''tatu-canastra'', ''tatou'', ''ocarro'' or ''tatú carreta'', is the largest living species of armadillo (although their extinct relatives, the Glyptodontidae, glyptodonts, were much l ...

(''Priodontes maximus''),

Brazilian three-banded armadillo The Brazilian three-banded armadillo (''Tolypeutes tricinctus'') is an armadillo species endemic to eastern Brazil, where it is known as (, lit. ball armadillo). It is one of only two species of armadillo that can roll into a ball (the other is ...

(''Tolypeutes tricinctus'') and

Owl's spiny rat Owl's spiny rat (''Carterodon sulcidens'') is a rodent species in the family Echimyidae found in Brazil. It is the only species in the genus ''Carterodon''. Owl's spiny rat has evolved characteristics such as a heightened ability to dig in open ...

(''Carterodon sulcidens''),. File:Grande Sertao Veredas 2.jpg File:Grande Sertao Veredas 3.jpg File:Veredas.jpg

Notes

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grande Sertao Veredas National Park National parks of Brazil Protected areas established in 1989 Protected areas of Bahia Protected areas of Minas Gerais Cerrado