The Natural Environment With woods for hiking, and calm places to relax, read, or simply enjoy birds singing, the tourist complex reflects our concern with the natural environment. In 1981, the Company launched a program to reconstitute the vegetation on the slopes of the mountains, removing the fire-prone guinea grass. The Plan for Reconstitution of the Vegetation of Morro da Urca and Pão de Açúcar, started by the Company in 1983. It was conducted by the Institute for Nature Conservation (Instituto de Conservação da Natureza), in association with the State Secretariat of Science and Technology. “Operation Vegetation”, as the reforestation program was called, covered an area of 100,000 square meters. A total of 20,000 ornamental and fruit trees were planted with seedlings from the city’s Botanical Garden, and a landscape enrichment plan was designed. The local fauna was also reconstituted using animals arrested by the General Department of Renewable Natural Resources (Departamento Geral de Recursos Naturais Renováveis). The native tibouchina trees, as well as palm trees, begonias, orchids, ferns and a number of other species have now returned to the mountains. The rebirth of the tropical forest brought back the monkeys, as well as collar birds, tanagers and other birds. The Morro da Urca and Sugarloaf plateaus were also planted with jackfruit, ficus, avocado and guava trees. Reforesting of the Cara de Cão and the Sugarloaf mountains took four months and also brought excellent results, attracting birds like the scarlet macaw, seriema, yellow-breasted toucan, and mangrove parrot by distributing appropriate food in 50 bird feeders spread amidst the vegetation. A whole team of employees was in charge of local conservation and a veterinarian was assigned to assist the birds. In 1993, these animals were donated to IBAMA, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 04:06:07 +0000
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