The Serra da Canastra National Park was created by Decree 70.355 / 72, with the purpose of preserving the sources of the São Francisco River. The decree defined an approximate area of 200,000 hectares for the park and determined that high value arable land could be excluded from the initial area of the conservation unit. Over the years, there were several land conflicts and the area of the park was changed, and the management plan elaborated in 1981 covers only 71.5 thousand hectares. In March 2005, however, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) published a new management plan for the Serra da Canastra National Park covering the original area.

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The National Park has as basic objective the preservation of natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty, enabling the accomplishment of scientific researches and the development of activities of education, contact with nature and ecological tourism. As a specific objective, the Conservation Unit has to protect in natural state the recharge zones and drainage headlands inserted in the Canastra and Babilônia chapters, as well as to protect springs in the basins of the São Francisco, Araguari, Santo Antônio, Bateias, Grande and Grande riverside. The preservation of the Brazilian Savanna vegetation with forest formations and savannas, which is uncommon in other protected areas of this biome, as well as ecological tension between the cerrado and the Atlantic forest, are part of the objectives of this CU. As well as protecting endemic plant species and bird species from clean, dry fields and damp, endangered wetlands (lesser nothura, dwarf tinamou, sickle-winged nightjar and campo miner), resting places for migratory birds.

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As you walk through the Serra da Canastra National Park, the visitor will come across an inexhaustible source of news and surprises, with more than 30 waterfalls in the park and its surroundings, forming showers and natural pools, with a rich fauna, between them you will see the brazilian merganser, maned wolf, giant anteater, southern crested caracara, pampas deer, much of these endangered. The vegetation of the park is typical of the cerrado, rupestrian fields with spots that indicate to be a zone of transition between the first and Atlantic Forest. In this scenery it is possible to observe species such as wolf's-fruit, lignum vitae, Curatella americana, Maytenus rigida, abundant orchids and bromeliads, Vellozia squamata, among others. The vegetation of the park is composed of altitudes fields, riparian forests and typical cerrado in the west.

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The park is a natural watershed of the basins of São Francisco and Paraná rivers, in this case contributing to the south with the Grande river and Paranaíba river in the north, through the Araguari river that is born within the park. The highest altitudes are 1,500 meters high and in several places its variations are abrupt, even on the roads, which still suffer serious weather and erosion in the rainy season. So it is recommended to use 4x4 vehicles in most of the year. The park also has two archaeological sites in precarious conditions of preservation and security, which are still poorly studied, and all due respect to those localities are requested, and nothing should be removed or altered under penalty of a fine. They are rock paintings and other elements not yet fully identified. The ideal time for visitation is from April to October, because the weather is less rainy, facilitating access to the attractions and making the walks more pleasant. Motorcycles and off-road vehicles are welcome, as long as they remain on the roads, since outside them they will be subject to a fine in accordance with environmental legislation.

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All are requested to notice the start of fires and to contact the park management as soon as possible by means of the telephones (37) 3433-1324 / 1326 and the e-mail parnacanastra@icmbio.gov.br; sending whenever possible photos or data of suspicious passers-by who are in the locality.