The park's environment has been badly degraded through illegal occupation, logging, removal of sand, and garbage dumping.

[1] It is just south of the city of São Luís, and north of the Região de Maracanã Environmental Protection Area, on the right bank of the Bacanga River.

[4] The Batatã water reservoir is in the east of the park, to the west of the Marechal Cunha Machado International Airport.

The area occupied by the park suffered from the uncontrolled growth of the city of São Luís, with damage including fires, extraction of timber and sand, garbage accumulation and so on.

[6] The Bacanga State Park was created by decree 7.545 of 7 March 1980 to conserve natural environments favorable to the development of scientific, educational and recreational activities, with an area of about 3,075 hectares (7,600 acres).

[9] The park was made the joint responsibility of the Secretariat of State for Natural Resources, Technology and Environment (SERNAT) and the water authority (CAEMA), who operates the reservoir.

[4] In 2001 there were small settlements with a total of 747 inhabitants within the park, felling trees, burning the vegetation and practising a primitive form of agriculture.

[4] The responsible agencies, SEMA and CAEMA, were doing little to manage the situation, allowing informal occupation and construction in the park, deforestation, degradation of ravines and gullies and so on.

Deforestation had been caused by harvesting of timber for construction of houses and for firewood, and by removal of vegetation to allow stone and clay to be excavated for local sale.