Mirador State Park
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| Mirador State Park | |
|---|---|
| Parque Estadual de Mirador | |
  | |
| Nearest city | Mirador, Maranhão |
| Coordinates | 6°34′51″S 45°11′41″W / 6.5808°S 45.1947°W |
| Area | 437,000 hectares (1,080,000 acres) |
| Designation | State park |
| Created | 4 June 1980 |
| Administrator | Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente e Recursos Naturais |
The Mirador State Park (Portuguese: Parque Estadual de Mirador) is a state park in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. It protects the headwaters of an important source of water for communities in the state, including the state capital. Its own protection from illegal logging, slash-and-burning, grazing and hunting is underfunded.
The Mirador State Park is in the municipality of Mirador, Maranhão.[1] It has an area of about 437,000 hectares (1,080,000 acres).[2] The park covers the Serra do Itapecuru, which rises to 660 metres (2,170 ft) between the basins of the Alpercatas and Itapecuru rivers. It protects the watershed and headwaters of several tributaries of the upper Itapecuru, an important source of water for twenty cities in Maranhão including São Luís.[3]
Environment
The climate is dry, subhumid, with annual rainfall of 1,200 millimetres (47 in).[4] Average maximum temperatures are 31.4 to 33 °C (88.5 to 91.4 °F). Average minimum temperatures are 19.5 to 21 °C (67.1 to 69.8 °F).[5] Vegetation is mainly cerrado, cerradão and gallery forest.[3] A 2013 survey of flora found 53 families, 98 genera and 140 species. The families with the greatest number of species were Malpighiaceae, Leguminosae, Rubiaceae, Cyperaceae, Convolvulaceae, Melastomataceae, Malvaceae, Vochysiaceae and Dilleniaceae.[6]
Trees include red and yellow ipê (Tabebuia), arueira and cedar. Vegetation is low, gnarled trees with thick bark. Economically important trees include pau-terra (Vochysiaceae), pequi (Caryocar brasiliense), lobeira (Solanum lycocarpum), ainda, bacuri, pequi and murici for fruit, and the medicinal sucupira (Pterodon emarginatus) and jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril). The fava-danta (Dimorphandra mollis), common in the park, is the source of the alkaloid pilocarpine for the pharmaceutical industry. Most of the riparian trees are large buriti palms.[3]
Fauna includes endangered species such as the king vulture (Sarcoramphus papa), giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) and bush dog (Speothos venaticus). Other species include Amazon parrots, parakeets, partridges, seriemas, margay (Leopardus wiedii), deer, cobras and armadillos.[3] Reptiles include the anaconda, the alligator and rattlesnake.[5] Researchers have identified 60 species of fish, one apparently a new species.[7]
The park attracts illegal fishing and hunting, burning and logging. Some of the original residents remain.[8] They use the area for grazing and small-scale crops.[5] In August 2015 the deputy Rigo Teles spoke out in the State Assembly about the environmental degradation of the state park, which he had recently visited. He said that after the cooperative stopped managing the park there had been widespread fires and the wild animals were being decimated by hunters.[9]