Impactos ambientais em trilhas: agricultura X Ecoturismo - um estudo de caso na Trilha do Quilombo (PEPB—RJ)

The ecotourism, despite having increased its number of fans in Brazil, is suffering with the poor plannification of visitation in protected areas. Their trails show up as one of the biggest attractions (contact with the natural environment for recreation and practice of sports), but due to lack of proper planning and management more suffering comes with environmental impacts. The studies concerning the trails and the impact of its different uses are important in that once established in protected areas, the trail have a crucial role in the management of the environment where it is inserted. This article show the premise that the frequent and intensive use of trails as a place of passage of agricultural production of small farmers who reside within the second largest protected area located on the west side of Rio de Janeiro county - the Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca (PEPB) - can cause Erosive impact in the soil, thereby setting, a contradiction with the aim of preserving their area, established by the National Protected Area System – SNUC (2000). Therefore, this study provided a better understanding and diagnosis of erosive impact of one of its main tracks (near the headquarters) called the Quilombo trail that was analyzed from the perspective for the geographical planning of its ecotouristic activities.