It protects an area of Amazon rainforest to the east of the Rio Negro that is home to the endangered pied tamarin.

The Margem Esquerda do Rio Negro Environmental Protection Area surrounds the park on the west, north and east.

The river and the Araras and Jaraqui streams, tributaries of the Rio Negro, are low-lying and have flooded mouths.

With the revised boundaries the north section was reduced to a smaller part of the right (west) bank of the Rio Negro, although it now extended further to west, and the south section was reduced to a smaller part of the left (east) bank of the river.

[6] On 28 December 2010 a law was passed to allow the lands occupied by traditional populations in the park to become a sustainable development reserve.

On 24 March 2014 a law created the Puranga Conquista Sustainable Development Reserve and changed the limits of the Rio Negro State Park South Section and the Aturiá-Apuauzinho section of the Margem Esquerda do Rio Negro Environmental Protection Area.