Araucária, Paraná, South Region, Brazil

🇧🇷 Araucária is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Paraná.

History The first movement of the white man in today Araucaria Brazil, dating back to the year 1668,period in which Domingos Rodrigues da Cunha received a land grant, donated by Captain Settler, Gabriel Lara, the strong man of Paraná that period. Other land grants were given to their children Luiz Rodrigues Garcia and Elder, and were in Pass Apiaúna, making currency with the Iguazu River, which then received the name of Rio Grande de Curitiba. These families started mowing, laid the first seeds and the place became a point of reference. Some years after developed a town that was named Tindiqüera. The occupation was relatively quick and settled there the surgeon Pascoal Fernandes Leite, Captain Manoel de Carvalho Biting and many others. The historical origin of Tindiqüera, whence the Araucaria, deserves a separate chapter in the historiography of Paraná, for its wealth. Reportedly lived in the small village of Nossa Senhora da Luz dos Pinhais later Curitiba, a large family of Maia, and the brave men who kept rushing and troubled relations with the authorities and other settlers of the place. The incidents have followed them the condition of personas non incipient grateful in Curitiba, even to the point of being forced to move away from the village and take refuge in a distant place, to prevent the course of justice, the persecuted, and the vengeance of the people. The venue for large family Maia was exactly Tindiqüera of town, situated on the banks of the Iguazú and right on top of an ancient Indian village. In 1876 the region received strong immigration flow of Russians, Poles and Germans, who gave a joint action to place progress through Cologne Thomaz Coelho. The advent of the Republic encouraged the community to draw up a petition, which was duly forwarded to the state government, through Mr Victor Ferreira do Amaral. On February 11, 1890, by State Decree No. 40, signed into law by Governor José Marques Guimaraes, was created the city, with territory taken from the cities of Curitiba and Pinhais, and renamed Araucária The official installation took place on 1 March 1890. The first mayor of the municipality was Manoel Gonçalves Ferreira.

By Law No. 1055 of April 5, 1911, the term was created Judiciary Araucaria, whose installation was on June 4, 1911. On April 19, 1919, through Law No. 1908 was elevated to the District, and the installation was done by Stanislaus Cardoso on 14 May of the same year. Decree-Law No. 93 of September 14, 1948, returned to the category of term Judiciary, and January 25, 1949, was elevated to the rank of District again, this time having been installed by Luiz de Albuquerque Maranhao Junior.

Economic and cultural importance Its wood is of high quality and has already been of basic importance for the Brazilian economy and possibly throughout South America throughout the last century. Its color is yellowish-white and uniform, with the sapwood slightly differentiated from the heartwood. The texture is fine and uniform. Wood is easily attacked by fungi and termites, but accepts protective treatments well. It shows a tendency to distortion and cracks in natural drying, requiring controlled artificial drying for better use. On the other hand, it is easy to work with, suitable for a wide variety of products, from the matchstick to the ship mast, through furniture, linings, rafters, boxes, crafts and many other uses. As a fuel, its nodes in particular have a high calorific value, having been widely used in domestic fires and in locomotive and vessel boilers, and today they feed metallurgical furnaces. It is also sought after for the manufacture of paper, having long fiber, which gives greater resistance to the paper, and light color, which requires less chemical bleaching.

The most intensive exploitation of this tree depended first on the opening of paths from its regions of occurrence, usually at the top of the mountains, to the coast, where first the Brazilian trade was consolidated. In 1871 the first large operating company was installed, the Companhia Florestal Paranaense, which took advantage of the projected construction of the Curitiba-Paranaguá railroad, but the road did not appear soon and the company ended up closing due to insufficient infrastructure for the transport of wood. After the opening of other railways and extensions, in the following decades, the exploration of the extensive araucaria forest of Paraná became economically viable and soon acquired importance.

At the same time, Italian colonization began in the mountains of Rio Grande do Sul, and the araucaria appeared as one of the great sources of initial income for the settler, who, coming poor from Europe, by tearing down the forests, making room for agriculture, could soon use the wood to make his house and sell the surplus to maintain himself in the difficult first years of the 54] The wood of the araucaria became the preferred material in the original architecture that flourished there, with it producing numerous buildings of rare and simple plastic beauty, both in urban and rural areas, many of them today protected by the public power of their municipalities or the state. A series of houses in the historic centre of Antônio Prado, due to their extraordinary importance, were listed together at the national level by IPHAN.

During the First World War, trade with Europe was hindered, the araucaria began to supply the domestic market and the Argentine market, multiplying the sawmills, which moved as the pine forests of each place were exhausted. After the war, the transport system was improved, introducing the truck, freeing the timber industry from the exclusive dependence on the railroad. With this, the overthrow became uncontrollable in all states of the Southern Region of Brazil. In World War II, araucaria wood led exports from Paraná and was important in the process of industrialization of other states. According to Hueck, in 1963 it represented 92% of total Brazilian timber exports. Then the timber cycle began to decline, as the natural reserves disappeared and the first commercial reforestation experiments failed.

Its seeds participated in the diet of indigenous people who occupied the region, and saved many families of Italian immigrants from hunger at the end of the 19th century, when colonization in the South began, in extremely precarious conditions, readily integrating into colonial cuisine, in natura or transformed into flour, breads and pasta. Currently pine nuts are a form of income aggregation to the small rural producer, helping the fixation of man on the land. Pine nuts are preferably eaten roasted or cooked, but with pine nut flour it is possible to make breads, pies and breads. It can also be used for the preparation of souffles, rolls and puddings, and is a typical dish of the June Festivals. In the region of Lages the pine nut is the main element of typical dishes and is celebrated at the National Festival of Pinhão. Its harvest, however, is very laborious, and its marketing flow is characterized by very low industrialization and poor financial return.

The planned cultivation of araucaria began in the first decades of the 20th century. In the middle of the century, good reforestation experiments were started in the National Forests, but commercially, for various reasons, the species is still poorly cultivated, despite its high economic value. It seems, however, that if properly planned, cultivation can effectively be a profitable option, in addition to offering a number of other benefits, such as shelter for fauna, soil protection, water protection, material for scientific studies and environmental education, carbon fixation, real estate valuation and promotion of ecological tourism. According to Koehler,

"A study conducted by the Regional Development Bank of the Far South (BRDE, 2005) shows that the reforestation of araucaria can be interesting from the point of view of financial return, when considering a productivity greater than 20 m³/ha/year. This means that planting the species becomes economically viable only in high productivity sites, when the focus is on wood production. Otherwise, there are economic motivations that justify preferring fast-growing exotic species by forest-based companies. However, the same study points out that in general terms and even in sites of low productivity, the cultivation of araucaria does not generate losses, and this should be considered whenever an environmental project is in mind, where not only non-repayable capital and own resources could be applied In the economic language, this would be an unattractive investment, but still capable of generating huge environmental gains. It is still necessary to consider other possibilities of generating revenues with forests planted with araucaria, such as obtaining carbon credits, the tendency of large corporations to support environmental projects, adding values to timber and non-wood products (pine), among others".

In the first three years its cultivation can be interweaning with corn, beans, rice and oats, which in addition to not harming it, give it some shade, since moderate shading is an important condition for the beginning of growth, and generate an extra income that covers the costs of forest culture. Another study, produced by the Association for the Preservation of the Environment of the Upper Itajaí Valley (Apremavi), showed that araucaria is a good economic alternative for the recovery of degraded areas, planted in association with other native species that have economic value, such as yerba mate, bracatinga, hawthorn, palmito, canafístula, cedar 35]

On the other hand, although the wood of the araucaria is considered superior to that of the Pinus, this is preferred by the markets because it does not represent a risk of infringement of the current environmental laws. The trade in wood and other products derived from araucaria faces serious obstacles, both in the domestic and foreign markets, because it is a native tree included in the list of endangered species.

From its leaves, six biflavonoids have already been extracted, which are pointed out as anti-inflammatory agents and arthritis, in addition to ethyl acetate and n-butanol, of proven antiherpetic action. In the pine nut are also present flavonoids with antioxidant power and a lectin of anticonvulsant action. In home medicine, the pine nut is popularly attributed to the powers to combat heartburn, anemia and weakness of the organism. Cooked leaves are used to combat anemia and tumors caused by lymphatic disorders. The infusion of the bark dipped in alcohol is used to treat "cobreiros", rheumatism, varicose veins and muscle strains.

From its bark you can also make a fermented drink of pleasant taste, and its ashes contain a large amount of potash. Its resin can be distilled and become a source of tar, various oils, terpene, varnishes, acetone, eplywood acid, with many industrial applications. Young trees are also widely used as a Christmas tree.

This pine tree, according to Basso, penetrated deep into the feeling of the same people who were so predatory to him and today dominates in his place these plateaus and mountains, becoming an emblematic and affective image: "The resident of the plateau when he travels to other lands, when returning and seeing the first silhouettes of the araucaria on the horizon, realizes that he has arrived at his house. This is his sentimental homeland, where he has his roots. The traveler when penetrating the territory of the Brazilian sul plateau soon realizes that he is in this specific territory, so characteristic is this tree, a true eponym of the south. The pine nut prints on the coexistence of the residents, habits and unforgettable moments. The rural man, whether from the colony or from the fields and the residents of the cities of the region, will always have in their memory the pine nut roasted or cooked in the warmth of the home on dark winter days, or the sapecada de grimpas (dry branches), almost a feast of St. John for the inhabitants of these places. The eminent biologist and priest Fr. Baldwin Rambo said that always when contemplating the landscape drawn of araucarias he felt in his homeland, fascinated by this splendid glass of greenery cutting the blue sky".

The tree was elected as a symbol of the state of Paraná, and its representation was extremely common in state handicrafts; gave its name to the city of Curitiba through its indigenous appeal curi (curi-tyba, in Tupi-Guarani, means "a lot of pine nuts", or "a lot of pine"); it is also a symbol of 78]

Conservation It is estimated that the araucaria forest would originally cover 200,000 km², having decreased by 97% in the last century. In addition to cutting the araucaria for logging, its ecosystem competes at a disadvantage with the advance of the agricultural frontier, reforestation is few and the species loses 3,400 tons of seeds per year for human food consumption. The populations of Paraguay are not seed producers, and in Argentina the forest, which in 1960 had 210,000 ha, currently has only 1,000 ha.

A study commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment in 2002 concluded that "the mixed ombrophilous forest is at an end and, if a series of preservation units are not created immediately, there is a great risk of losing this ecosystem. […] The rare native forest remnants are of small dimensions, are isolated and with evident structural changes". Another research, carried out by the Federal University of Santa Catarina, showed a loss of more than 50% in the genetic variability of the species.

In Santa Catarina, the only stretch where the structural characteristics of the mixed ombrophilous forest were maintained is Ponte Serrada, with 7,947 hectares, corresponding to 0.5% of the natural forests of this ecosystem. In Paraná, estimates of 2009 indicated 0.8%, but perhaps this number is already outdated, because the pace of deforestation is high, as warned by João Medeiros, director of the Center for Biological Sciences of the Federal University of Santa Catarina. On the other hand, with the current climatic conditions, which are causing a retreat in the field areas in the South and Southeast of Brazil, the araucarias are being able to colonize new areas, but this is not enough. Araucaria is on the list of endangered species of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), of the Institute of Botany of São Paulo and the Biodiversitas Foundation. It appears on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as a species in critical danger of extinction.

The modality of in situ conservation is, according to Angeli, the one that presents the greatest difficulties to be executed, not only by the fragmentation of natural populations and the long reproductive cycle, but mainly by the pressure of occupation of the rural environment. In a study Sanquetta said that, although preliminary, its results indicate that the pine management practices authorized by law need to be reviewed, because the selective cuts allowed, of low magnitude in small stretches of forest, do not favor the natural regeneration of the species. In a seminar held by Emater in Curitiba, most researchers said that the total protection of araucaria is more harmful to its survival than sustained management, because it adds economic interest to the species and stimulates reforestation. Soares also states that the lack of knowledge about the behavior and regenerative capacities of the species precipitates its extinction. For Azevedo, the study of the interactions of araucaria with the associated micro and macrofauna is also fundamental for the better management of the species.

In the 1960s large companies implemented significant reforestation programs, but unfortunately most of them did not live up to expectations. Its prolonged reproduction cycle and its slow growth, requiring many nutrients, plus the restrictions that progressively disciplined its cutting, decreasing the economic sustainability of the species, make it unattractive to be used in commercial reforestation. That is why the culture was passed over in favor of Pinus and Eucalyptus, exotic species but of rapid growth and few demands. In addition, Da Silva et alii said that the preference of araucaria for high fertility soils, a characteristic often misinterpreted, is another of the factors that intimidate potential reforesters, because…

"… it can be attributed to the lack of specific silvicultural information for each site, the lack of interest in planting and the small area reforested with the species. A. angustifolia occurs on several types of soils, from the least fertile, such as sandstone derivatives, such as the Campos Gerais region, to the most fertile, basalt derivatives, in the south-west of Paraná and west of Santa Catarina. … The evolution of forestry has allowed the techniques of seedling production and planting to be mastered, however the selection of the site remains inadequate, as marginal areas are intended for reforestation in most situations. The araucarias, according to Hoogh (1981) and Hoogh & Blum (1981), are demanding in site quality. They also highlight that the high initial costs are due to slow initial growth, which is related to poor site choice and inadequate cultural practices".

Flávio Zanette, from the Federal University of Paraná, reports that the presence of araucaria on his land is considered by many farmers as an obstacle to their objectives: "In the past, the farmer went to the countryside throwing pine nuts on the ground. Your grandson, nowadays, where he sees araucaria being born, starts, because if he lets it grow he won't be able to cut it. Araucaria, for him, will be a space problem. You don't even plant in the backyards, in the city, anymore. And any species without renewal, even if it lasts 300 years — and some araucarias reach more than 500 — is doomed to disappear. Every year, 1% of araucarias die naturally. If there is not at least 1% birth rate, it will be extinguished".

On the other hand, many areas with severe losses can still be recovered, and according to Yamaguchi there are currently numerous projects aimed at the reforestation and sustainable use of this pine, and is the most studied native species with a view to the improvement and conservation of genetic resources through the formation of degermoplasm banks in situ and ex situ. But the conclusions about the genetic improvement of this species are still uncertain.

Many institutions are turning their attention to the conservation of Araucaria angustifolia, among them the Forest Research Foundation of Paraná with the project "Conservation of the Biome with Araucária", in partnership with the Agroforestry Institute, the Environmental Institute of Paraná, the Forest Police and the municipal governments. Worth mentioning are the research work carried out by the Laboratory of Plant Ecology of the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos), in collaboration with the Federal University of Santa Maria, producing the first large-scale description of the patterns of natural regeneration of araucarias in native forests. The initiatives of EMBRAPA and the Ecological Association of Canela (ASSECAN), in Canela, acting intensely in the protection and conservation of the remnants of the Araucária Forest, are also important.

Legal protection The araucaria has been protected by law since the publication of the Royal Charter of March 13, 1797, which reserved the pines for the exclusive use of the Portuguese Crown. However, the exploitation took strength and escaped control, reaching its apex in the 20th century. Faced with the imminent threat of exhaustion of the species, other laws were being formulated. The Normative Ordinance DC No. 20 of September 27, 1976 of the Brazilian Institute of Forest Development, defined several measures for the protection of seeds, disciplining the harvesting and marketing of pine nuts and prohibiting the felling of trees with pine cones at the time of seed fall. But until the mid-1980s there were still no important restrictions on the indiscriminate exploitation of Araucaria forests. Generous limits were defined in the "Forestry Exploration Plans", allowing the cutting of practically all individuals with a trunk diameter above 40 cm.

Later, it was the object of protection by the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which consecrated a balanced environment as a good of common use of the people, essential to the healthy quality of life, in the concept of sustainable management, also forcing the State to the protection and preservation of the genetic heritage. The Brazilian Forest Code - Law No. º 4.771/1965, with the changes made by Provisional Measure No. 2,166-67/2001 - represented a significant advance in the protection of Brazilian forests, conceptualizing and protecting in a particularized way the different types of forests and plant formations. Decree No. 750/93 provides for the cutting, exploitation and suppression of primary vegetation or in the advanced and middle stages of regeneration of the Atlantic Forest, including the mixed ombrophilous forest. The National Council for the Environment (CONAMA) published an extensive series of rules regulating the use of forests in the South Region. In May 2001 CONAMA ordered IBAMA to suspend the authorizations granted, by its own act or by delegation, for the cutting and exploitation of endangered species contained in the official list of that body - where the araucaria is registered -, except for cases of 90]

The recent trend has been to prohibit any type of intervention in the araucaria biome, even in the form of sustainable management authorized by the Constitution. However, experience has shown that if on the one hand the rigor in the interpretation of the law increases, its application may prove to be inconsistent or ineffective, and despite the varied and vast protection sacramented by the law, many violations and abuses still occur. In the opinion of Paulo de Tarso Pires the problem is even more complex, saying that many of these laws lack legal effectiveness because they are built on technical vices. Even the limits for exploitation authorized by law may be favoring the disappearance of the species, causing irreparable losses in the biodiversity of the forest and destructuring many forest remnants. Basso says that only the law will not be able to prevent the extinction of the species, it is necessary for society to adopt a new environmental awareness, towards the sustainable and rational management of natural resources, so its end can be prevented.

Entre as incongruências da política oficial, apesar de sua importância e de estar em estado de ameaça crítica, há poucas unidades de conservação para seu sensível ecossistema, e o próprio governo federal brasileiro aprovou a criação da Usina Hidrelétrica de Barra Grande, na divisa de Santa Catarina com o Rio Grande do Sul, cujo lago inundou uma área de aproximadamente 8.140 hectares onde sobrevivia um dos mais bem preservados e biologicamente ricos fragmentos de floresta ombrófila mista do estado de Santa Catarina. As maiores reservas se encontram no Parque Nacional de São Joaquim, com 49 300 hectares; no Parque Nacional das Araucárias, com 12 841 ha; no Horto Florestal de Campos do Jordão, com 8 341 ha; na Estação Ecológica da Mata Preta, com 6 563 ha; na Floresta Nacional de Irati, com 3 495 ha, e na Reserva Florestal Embrapa/Epagri de Caçador, com 1 157,48 ha. Os parques nacionais de Aparados da Serra e do Iguaçu têm pequenas áreas de florestas com araucárias. Em parques municipais podemos citar o Parque Natural Municipal da Costa Neto, em Lages, Parque Natural Municipal das Araucárias, em Guarapuava e no Parque Natural Municipal Morro do Ouro em Apiaí.