Other units in this mosaic are the Sempre Vivas National Park, Serra do Cabral, Biribiri, Rio Preto, Pico do Itambé and Serra Negra state parks, and the Água das Vertentes, Felício dos Santos and Rio Manso Environmental Protection Areas.

[1] It lies in an area where there is intense human activity and provides an important refuge for local fauna.

[1] In April 2013, the Public Ministry and Justice department of Minas Gerais charged that the State Forestry Institute had been failing to comply with environmental legislation.

There were serious problems such as lack of a management plan, physical structures and personnel, and land tenure issues with the ecological stations of Mata dos Ausentes and Mata do Acauã and the state parks of Biribiri, Alto Cariri, Rio Preto and Serra Negra.

In August 2015, a project was under way to recover the Itapirapuã, which had been damaged by cattle trampling the banks, destruction of the riparian forests to make charcoal, sand mining and dumping of domestic sewage and solid waste.