Floresta com araucárias: as serrarias e ações de preservação em Passos Maia e Ponte Serrada - SC

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, the areas that now correspond to the municipalities of Passos Maia and Ponte Serrada, in Santa Catarina state, were predominantly covered by the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest. However, the colonization process and the establishment of sawmills in the region accelerated the deforestation, a theme that guides this research. This study aims to critically analyze human actions in transforming the landscape, focusing on sawmills as the main agents of change in these municipalities’ landscapes between the 1940s and 1990s and identifying the consequences of these actions.and measures for the conservation of the remaining forest areasFrom this analysis, the study sought to understand the process of implementing the Araucárias National Park (Parque Nacional das Araucárias - PNA), the conflicts generated by its creation, as well as the development of environmental education initiatives and potentialities provided by the PNA. Various historical sources and theories related to Environmental History were employed to achieve this goal. This discussion is grounded in the works of authors such as Eunice Nodari and Donald Worster, among others who enrich this research. The methodological approach involved consulting and analyzing documents together with theoretical frameworks selected for this study. Documents from sawmills, the PNA, oral sources, and legal records were utilized. This study demonstrates that the deforestation caused by sawmills, agricultural production and, later, the creation of the PNA brought profound changes to the environment, people’s lives, and the municipalities as a whole, including significant influences on environmental education processes.