In the 1970s the Special Secretariat of the Environment under the environmentalist Paulo Nogueira Neto launched a program of estações ecológicas (ecological stations) with the aim of establishing a network of reserves that would protect representative samples of all Brazilian ecosystems.

[3] It consists of the island of Taiamã, which covers a total area of 11,555 hectares (28,550 acres) and is bordered by the Paraguay and Bracinho rivers.

[3] The station consists mostly of flooded fields, but includes permanent and temporary lakes, ponds and meandering streams, strongly influenced by seasonal fluctuations of the Paraguay River.

[2] The vegetation of the Pantanal is mainly influenced by the Cerrado biome, but also has elements from the Amazon rainforest, Gran Chaco and Atlantic Forest.

[4] Endangered species in the ecological station include the jaguar (Panthera onca), giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) and marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus).