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FOREST RESOURCES 
At the present time Brazil’s forests cover 931 mil- 
lion acres, about 44 percent of the area of the country. 
It is estimated that originally they covered about 65 
percent of the total land area. Today, only the 
U.S.S.R. has a forest area larger than that of Brazil. 
Three-fourths of Brazil’s forest area is in tropical 
rain forest located in the Amazon lowlands; most of 
the remainder is in the tropical forests on the 
mountains and slopes of the east and south (fig. 7), 
the Parana pine forests of the four southern States, 
and the palm forests largely in the State of Maranhao. 
The distribution of the forests is uneven. since they 
are primarily associated with rainfall that is both 
abundant and fairly well distributed throughout the 
year, as occurs in the Amazon lowlands and the 
mountains near the east coast. The central high- 
lands with a dry period in the South American winter 
months between May and September are largely 
treeless (fig. 8). although dry scrub and brush with 
a few commercial trees grow in the northeast and 
patches of forest occur along the major streams. 
Today only 15 percent of Brazil’s forest area is 
being exploited (table 2). Many of the species in 
the Amazon forests are currently unmarketable. 
the 
choicest and most accessible trees of a few desirable 
Accordingly, timber cutting removes only 
species. The generally low percentage of forests in 
the eastern States is the result of destructive forest 
(Photo by R. Nash, courtesy Pan American Union.) 
Figure 7.—Tropical rain forest of the coastal mountains. 
FORESTS AND FOREST INDUSTRIES OF BRAZIL 
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