Morro do Chapéu State Park
| Morro do Chapéu State Park | |
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| Parque Estadual do Morro do Chapéu | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Rock painting in the park
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| Nearest city | Morro do Chapéu, Bahia |
| Coordinates | 11°22′56″S 41°17′03″W / 11.382093°S 41.284128°WCoordinates: 11°22′56″S 41°17′03″W / 11.382093°S 41.284128°W |
| Area | 46,000 ha (180 sq mi) |
| Designation | State park |
| Created | 17 August 1998 |
| Administrator | Superintendência de Desenvolvimento Florestal e Unidades de Conservação |
The Morro do Chapéu State Park Portuguese: Parque Estadual do Morro do Chapéu is a state park in the state of Bahia, Brazil. It protects an area of the caatinga biome that includes interesting geological formations and prehistoric cave paintings. There have been extended delays in physically implementing the park, and an attempt was made in 2011 to cancel it.
The Morro do Chapéu State Park is in the municipality of Morro do Chapéu, Bahia. It has an area of 46,000 hectares (110,000 acres). The park is in a part of the Chapada Diamantina that has great scenic beauty and potential for tourism. The park contains sub-basins of the Salitre, Jacaré, Utinga and Jacuípe rivers. These in turn feed the Paraguaçu and São Francisco rivers. 543 important springs have been catalogued, and the site has potential to function as a geopark. It also contains archaeological sites with cave paintings. The paintings in the Brejões, Boa Esperança, Igrejinha and Cristal caves demand special protection.
The Morro do Chapéu State Park was created by decree 23.682 of 12 December 1973, but no action was taken to implement the park. An event on conservation of nature sponsored by the municipality of Morro do Chapéu and the state planning department was held in 1985 and called for measures to implement the park. The Geological Service of Brazil (CPRM) presented a report in December 1995 that included plans for infrastructure and tourist sites, and gave environmental information, risk factors and speleological and archaeological studies. Based on this, the state's department of forest development reopened the question of the park's area, and commissioned a study on alternatives for the location of the park.
The Morro do Chapéu State Park was recreated by state decree 7.413 of 17 August 1998. The objectives are to protect species of rare and endangered animals, to protect vegetation in the ecotone where the cerrado and caatinga meet, and to protect archaeological sites. In 2008, at the request of the state secretariat of the environment, a team from the State University of Feira de Santana concluded a study for a new polygon to define the area of the park. As of 2011 problems had been caused by opening a road inside the park, hunting, deforestation, logging and complete lack of surveillance, particularly in the west of the park. Land owners had still not been compensated.
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