Paradise was a prosperous farm

Imagining that a person, who is in the public eye, a businessman, or some executive with his time accounted for; down to the last second, could only be a machine without feelings, many people can hardly accept the fact that someone like myself could be so linked to the land, with such a deep attachment, to the environment in which I live, to its people, to its customs, in short, to its very nature.

I confess that I wanted, more than ever before, to have even a little of the poetic genius of my friend Patativa do Assare, who sang those pure verses to his Serra de Santana (Santana Mountains), so that I could also express a little more of the beautiful memories I have of the Serra do Pacoti, in the Baturité Massif, that I have known since my childhood, when I went there with my parents.

Sitio Arvoredo (Arvoredo Farm), that I am pleased to preserve as it was in those former times of my deceased father; is one of the relics that I keep from the Mountains, with its rich history of coffee, the sugar cane mills, the farms and orchards, the traditional families, the religious culture, the natural gardens, the thick green flora, and the incomparable climate that, together, make it one of the most important ecological, tourist and cultural assets of the State of Ceara.  

It needs to be preserved, at all cost, for the use of future generations. The inspiration for this concern gave me the chance, right away during my first term of office as governor, to decree the transformation of that entire main region of the Massif into an Environmental Protection Area, which is now known as the Baturité ERA, encompassing the cities of Aratuba, Baturité, Capistrano, Guaramiranga, Mulungu, Pacoti, Palmacia and Redenção.  

As one of the farm owners in Pacoti, I include myself in the EPA community that, according to the decree, should collaborate in reconciling human activities with the preservation of wild life, the protection of the other natural resources, and the improvement of the quality of life of the region's inhabitants.

For example, Jose Linhares was the first Cearense to be the president of the Republic, besides a whole list of large families who lived along with the simple people of the farms and mills. There stands the famous Pico Alto (High Peak) that geographers have proudly preserved.  Pacoti, the name given in honor of the river that rises up in the far south of the Baturité Mountains, was visited by the nationally famous poet Gonçalves Dias, who wrote Canção do Exflio (Song of Exile) in I 859.  Fruit and truck farming are an integral part of the economic life, and the garlic from Aratuba is in the seasoning found in every worthy kitchen. In short, it is a small green country of 32,690 hectares, with the surviving remains of the Atlantic rain forest, where I go whenever I need to breathe pure air and have direct contact with nature. And since I don't know how to sing like Patativa does about his Serra de Santana, or write descriptions like Rachel de Queiroz of the simple things of Ceará, I will borrow the verses of the poet of Baturité, Jilio Maciel, who sang so well about our Mountains:

The Baturité Mountains, are a Conservation Area - an Environmental Protection Area (ERA).

From the very beginning, that area has, in fact, been used in observance of the best features of that very ecosystem. Actually, it began with the coffee plantations that grew so much that a railroad, highways and other benefits were provided, always with careful respect for natural resources. The coffee demanded the natural shade of native vegetation, although the introduction, later; of sugar cane and, then, more recently of vegetable farming, has contributed to deforestation practices.

The main purpose of the creation of the Environmental Protection Area, starting with a 600 m plot of land, was to block the destruction that most certainly would take place, if it were not for the joint action of federal, state and municipal governments, backed up by local residents and by those who go there for the mild climate and leisure it offers.

Besides the colonial style homes, there are also churches and convents that were outstanding in their times.
Currently, small farms and leisure homes predominate in the region, for middle and upper class families to rest in the midst of the natural setting, without damaging it.  

The tourist potential is proven by the existence of a number of hotels and inns throughout the Baturite massif, as well as the scheduled excursions and the trails that are frequently sought out, in all of the counties that make up the ERA.

The abundance of the ecosystem, seen in the lush Atlantic rainforest vegetation, the bodies of water; especially the waterfalls, the typical fauna of the region, and the action of humans, with the intense cultivation of vegetable gardens, flowers and fruits.

In order to portray better and more appropriately these two aspects of the Baturite Mountains, there are none more qualified than writer Rachel de Queiroz and Governor Tasso Jereissati. The first, because, besides being an acknowledged expert on our reality, she lived and was involved with the Baturite Mountains at the time when it was merely a farming area. And Governor Jereissati, because, since his childhood, when accompanied by his parents, began to travel to the mountains for leisure, where,  until today, as head of the State of Ceara, he has been making it his safe refuge, renewing his physical and spiritual energy which are needed to perform his honorable; and difficult task.