The reserve covers an area of 1,058.62 hectares (2,615.9 acres) in the municipality of Santa Rita, Paraíba.

[1] Before it was created the reserve had been exploited for timber and agricultural crops.

[2] It was thought that the blond capuchin monkey (Cebus flavius) was extinct, but it has been rediscovered in two Atlantic Forest fragments in Paraíba, the Camaratuba Experimental Station and the Gargaú reserve.

They seemed healthy and sufficiently genetically diverse to form a viable population.

[3] The reserve is also home to the red-handed howler (Alouatta belzebul) and common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus).