In this unusually big area photographed just after it had been prepared for restoration earlier this year, the furrowed planting lines are clear to see. The unmistakable reddish color of the “terra roxa” soil is due to the presence of a relatively high content of iron oxides. In Brazil, particularly in the states of São Paulo, Paraná and south of Minas Gerais, this particularly fertile tropical soil was cultivated with coffee plantations during the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. After that, other crops were produced such as orange, cotton, soy and sugarcane, contributing to the expansion of agricultural lands and accounting for the vastly reduced forest cover within Tietê’s landscape.