Great Pontal Reserve
The Great Pontal Reserve (), formally called the Pontal do Paranapanema State Reserve (), is an ecological reserve is the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was created in 1942, but over the years suffered considerable degradation by illegal invasions and squatters. It was partly flooded after construction of the Eng Sérgio Motta Dam on the Paraná River. The reserve today is a poor agricultural region mostly used for cattle and sugar cane farming. Creation The Pontal do Paranapanema occupies the extreme west of the state of São Paulo. It is bounded to the north and west by the Paraná River and to the south by the Paranapanema River. To the east it was bounded by the advancing agricultural frontier. European occupation of the Pontal do Paranapanema region began in earnest when the Sorocabana Railway reached the Paraná River in 1917. Urban centers were built along the railway and intensive logging began, followed by farming of coffee, cotton, peanuts and cattle. The governor of São Paulo state in the early 1940s, Fernando Costa, created three reserves to protect public land in the region. The Morro do Diabo Forest Reserve, which later became the Morro do Diabo State Park, was created on 29 October 1941. The Lagoa São Paulo Reserve was created on 6 November 1942, and the Great Pontal Reserve was created by decree 13.075 of 25 November 1942. These three reserves covered of forest. Degradation Over the years that followed the Lagoa São Paulo and Great Pontal reserves continued to be invaded by squatters and deforested, often with government support. Costa's successor, Adhemar de Barros allowed this process, supported by the local mayors. Lagoa São Paulo Reserve was the first to be invaded, followed by the Great Pontal Reserve, which was reduced by Adhemar de Barros in 1944 from to . Between 1945 and 1965 most of the Great Pontal Reserve was deforested to make way for large cattle farms or for small farms of 5–15 alqueires around urban locations. Jânio Quadros came to power in 1955 and took a series of measures to protect the Lagoa São Paulo and Great Pontal reserves, which still had much of their forest cover intact. His successors were not interested in conservation, and in his second term Adhemar de Barros repealed the decrees published by Jânio Quadros, apart from one that had created the Morro do Diabo State Park. In 1975 the state launched construction of hydroelectric power plants on the Paranapanema and Paraná Rivers. Employees on these projects squatted on land in the reserves after they were dismissed. Flooding Damming of the Paraná River began in the 1980s for construction of the Engenheiro Sérgio Motta Hydroelectric Power Plant. The dam was built by the Companhia Energética de São Paulo (CESP). Law 10.018 of 2 July 1998 suppressed of the Lagoa São Paulo Reserve and of the Great Pontal Reserve that were being flooded by the reservoir. CESP was responsible for indemnities arising from the flooding. Later history By 1997 the reserve