It protects an area of the Cerrado biome, and provides an ecological corridor linking the Brasília National Park and the Maranhão River basin.

[1] It is in the administrative region of Sobradinho in the north of the Federal District, bounded to the south by the DF-001 highway and the Brasília National Park.

The reserve includes two water intakes in the Contagem River and Paranoazinho stream that supply the city of Sobradinho.

[4] The Contagem de São João das Três Barras was established by the Portuguese crown in the site in 1736.

[5] The reserve is penetrated by human settlements that were established without official planning before the importance of the area was recognized.

[2] The reserve includes areas of great scenic beauty, such as the Sobradinho waterfall and the Chapada da Contagem.

[2] Various animals use the reserve as a corridor for dispersion from the Brasília National Park, such as the yellow-faced parrot (Alipiopsitta xanthops).

People enter the reserve for fishing, barbecues and leisure, race motor bikes on dirt trails, kill animals and discard oil and shampoo.