The forest
A rare remnant.
Eduardo P. Fernandez — CC BY 4.0 · Governo do Rio de Janeiro — CC BY 2.0 br · FabsGodoy — CC BY-SA 3.0 · FabsGodoy — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Eduardo P. Fernandez — CC BY 4.0 · Eduardo P. Fernandez — CC BY 4.0 · Eduardo P. Fernandez — CC BY 4.0
Serra da Concórdia State Park is a nature reserve created by decree on 30 December 2002 between the municipalities of Valença and Barra do Piraí in Rio de Janeiro state, near Vassouras, in the Paraíba do Sul river basin, with a temporary base on the Estrada da Concórdia in Valença. Like the whole Paraíba valley, the Serra da Concórdia was covered in forest until the early 19th century, when coffee plantations and then pasture replaced it, and secondary forest at different stages of regrowth spread over abandoned land. The park preserves one of the last remnants of the valley's seasonal semi-deciduous forest, where over half the trees shed their leaves in the dry season, the main ones being angico, jequitibá and cedar. It lies within the Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve, with a high-altitude tropical climate averaging 26 °C and dropping to 10 °C in winter. It suits forest walkers on a trip to the coffee valley; check open trails.
A rare remnant.
And cedar.
Near Vassouras.
Between Valença and Barra do Piraí, Rio de Janeiro state
One of the last remnants of the Paraíba valley's semi-deciduous forest.