The Forest Service of the Paulista Railroad Company (1903-1940)

• Grant number: 20/01514-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2020
• End date: August 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Romero de Oliveira
• Grantee: Nicolle Oliveira Rocha
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to study the creation and operation of the Companhia Paulista's Forest Service as a department responsible for the improvement and production of raw material for the company's construction and maintenance activities. Created in 1903 with the first Forest Garden, the Forest Section had as its main objective the supply of raw material for industrial production. With the creation of the Forest Garden in Rio Claro in 1909, the Forest Section head office would be installed under engineer Edmundo Navarro de Andrade's management. Thus, under the guidance of said engineer, eucalyptus would become the main supplier for firewood and railway sleepers production. The Service even created 18 forest gardens under his direction, the last of which was instituted in 1940 (Aimorés Forest garden) - also the peak of the consumption of firewood by the Company. This research aspires to reconstruct the Forest Section's administrative structure from 1903 to 1940, as well as to provide an overview of the cultivated areas acquired by the company during the same period. This research also aims to synthesize the consumption of firewood and coal in the first half of the twentieth century; therefore, it will be possible to understand how these activities influenced the economic and environmental impact in the state of São Paulo and for the railway company, analyzing the phase before the creation of the Forest Service but mainly the period after said implementation. (AU)