Urugua-í Provincial Park
| Urugua-í Provincial Park | |
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| Parque Provincial Urugua-í | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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| Nearest city | San Antonio, Misiones |
| Coordinates | 25°50′34″S 54°06′08″W / 25.842670°S 54.102169°WCoordinates: 25°50′34″S 54°06′08″W / 25.842670°S 54.102169°W |
| Area | 84,000 hectares (210,000 acres) |
| Designation | Provincial park |
| Created | 5 October 1990 |
| Administrator | Subsecretaría de Ecología, Misiones |
The Urugua-í Provincial Park (Spanish: Parque Provincial Urugua-í) is a Provincial park in the Misiones Province in the northeast of Argentina. It protects an area of Alto Paraná Atlantic forests in the upper basin of the Urugua-í River.
The Urugua-í Provincial Park is in the north of Misiones Province, Argentina, divided between the municipalities of Comandante Andresito, San Antonio and Bernardo de Irigoyen. It adjoins the southeast corner of the Iguazú National Park. It has an area of 84,000 hectares (210,000 acres). This makes it the third largest protected area of the Alto Paraná Atlantic forests after Argentina's Iguazú National Park and Brazil's Iguaçu National Park. The Sierra de la Victoria crosses part of the park. The Urugua-í River flows through the southern part of the park in a southeast – northwest direction and is impounded by the Urugua-í Dam to the west of the park.
A nature reserve was created in the area of the present park by decree 1.539 on 1982 with an area of 10,037 hectares (24,800 acres). It was Argentina's first nature reserve. In 1988 provincial decree 339 annexed an additional 74,000 hectares (180,000 acres). The present Urugua-í Provincial Park was created by provincial law 2.794 of 5 October 1990 to protect the ecosystem of the Urugua-í River basin. It compensates for the flooding of 8,800 hectares (22,000 acres) of the lower Urugua-í River basin caused by construction of the Urugua-í Dam. The park would be part of the proposed Trinational Biodiversity Corridor, which aims to provide forest connections between conservation units in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina in the Upper Paraná ecoregion.
The terrain is gently rolling in the west, with more mountainous land in the north and east where it approaches the Sierra de la Victoria, which crosses the north-southeast part of the park and forms a watershed between the Iguazu and Urugua-í rivers. The climate is subtropical rainy, with no dry season. There are five months when frosts occur. Average annual precipitation along the Urugua-í varies from 1,800 millimetres (71 in) at its mouth to 2,000 millimetres (79 in) near the town of Bernardo de Irigoyen. The park has a wide range of vegetation types in the valleys and mountains, including some remnants of Araucaria angustifolia in the southwest.
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