The Brazilian Forest Code of 1965 has defined and regulated the concepts of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and the Legal Reserve (RL). To regulate rural properties' compliance to the forest code, the State of Paraná introduced the SISLEG- Maintenance, Rehabilitation and Protection of Legal Reserve and Permanent Preservation Areas System. This study quantified, with the help of global positioning system (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the APPs and RLs of 147 properties in eight cities in East-central and Southeastern Paraná, aiming to analyze the environmental compliance of family-based rural properties to the Forest Code. A significant amount of forest cover was mapped, mainly as fragments of Araucaria Forest. The amount of forest cover is higher than the minimum required by law. Concerning the APPs about 67% of farms required some restoration while 26% of them are in accordance with the Code. The quantification of existing forest cover and that required by law, as well as the relatively small area necessary for the adjustment of the APPs (5% of total area) allows inferring that these questions are not barriers for the environmental regulation of the family-based surveyed farms.
legal reserve; areas of permanent preservation; small farming
