Current Site Manager: Luiz Dias

Introduction

Established in 2004, the Rio Doce TEAM site is located in Rio Doce State Park. The Federal University of Minas Gerais manages the TEAM site, which hosts researchers from four different universities in the area. The park itself is managed by the Minas Gerais State Forestry Institute.

The Rio Doce Valley originally supported an economy based on subsistence agriculture and cattle farming. Over the last four decades, however, the region has developed into one of Brazil's most important industrial areas. The growth of large, charcoal-based steel industries and accompanying urban growth were the principal drivers of the near complete deforestation of the region. During the 1960s, fiscal incentives promoted the cultivation of eucalyptus forests in the area – in order to support production of charcoal for the steel plants – further compounding the threat to the remaining natural forests. Eucalyptus plantations are now primarily used to produce cellulose.

Site Description

Rio Doce State Park comprises 35,976 hectares of land, including the largest semi-deciduous forest area in Minas Gerais. The park features a unique complex of 44 natural lakes of various sizes and successional stages. Elevations in the park range from 230 meters to 515 meters above sea level.

Park facilities include:

• Housing for permanent staff, a forestry police platoon and researchers.
• Research center with two laboratories, reference herbarium, and tree nursery.
• Training and information centers.
• Hotel, restaurant, and camping area for tourists.
• Internal security facilities, including radio transmission systems and an airplane runway.

Ecology

The vegetation cover includes at least ten different topographies, but some 90 percent of the park’s surface is forest, in a mosaic of successional stages. Forest fires, selective timber logging, and exploitation of palm heart are the main threats to the park.

Species

A total of 1,129 plant species have been recorded in the area, distributed among 134 botanical families. Fourteen plant species are considered threatened with extinction in the state of Minas Gerais.

Researchers have tallied 77 species of mammals in the park (about 30 percent of the Atlantic Forest species), including 28 species of bats, 20 non-volant small mammals, seven primate species (40 percent of the Atlantic forest primate species), and five species of felids. About 16 percent of the park’s mammal species are endemic to the Atlantic Forest, and 14 are on the state endangered species list.

Researchers have recorded 325 bird species in the park (47 percent of the Atlantic Forest birds), 25 of which are considered threatened with extinction in Minas Gerais.

The known fish fauna has 27 species, most having wide distribution ranges and not listed as threatened. However, the introduction and spread of exotic fish species from the Amazon basin and Africa is considered a major threat for the conservation of the local aquatic fauna.

The park has 38 species of amphibians. Ten of these are found nowhere else in the state of Minas Gerais.

Accessibility

The Rio Doce State Park is located at the middle of the Rio Doce basin, in eastern Minas Gerais state near the cities of Ipatinga, Coronel Fabriciano, and Timoteo.

The park is 248 km from the city of Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, and can be accessed by car. Take BR-262 to the Sao Jose Goiabal intersection. Then take the MG-30 road.

Location