The planning for the Ornithological Observatory includes, among other objectives, the recognition of the area as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN). This was achieved on July 8, 2022, according to Ordinance number 222 issued by Instituto Água e Terra (IAT) — the environmental authority of the State of Paraná, the jurisdiction to which the Observatory belongs. The Ordinance was published in the online edition number 11214, of July 11, 2022, of the Official Gazette of the State of Paraná (pages 42-43). The documents available through the links provided are available only in Portuguese. 

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Of the total area of 129,282.97 square meters that makes up the Nascentes do Iguaçu Ornithological Observatory, 117,240.16 square meters were transformed into an RPPN. The technical-scientific document submitted to the State environmental authority to justify the creation of the RPPN details the institutional, physical, biological, and socio-environmental aspects. The material, which can be read in Portuguese from this link, is illustrated with maps and images of the Observatory and contains the conclusive manifestation of the owners of the RPPN.

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RPPN is a category of private officially protected area — or conservation unit as it is called in Brazil. This category is recognized by the Brazilian National System of Conservation Units (SNUC). The SNUC encompasses the officially protected areas in Brazil, both public and private, the best-known being: national parks, state parks, biological reserves, ecological stations, and environmental protection areas, among other categories.

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The Nascentes do Iguaçu Ornithological Observatory has the RPPN status as a result of the will of its owners to perpetuate the area. This is a condition assured in the SNUC, whose legislation provides for the unchangeability in the use of the area. In other words, once established, the RPPN can't alter its main purpose of nature conservation.

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With the transformation into a RPPN, the natural resources of the Observatory will be evaluated and inventoried through surveys and diagnoses that will support the preparation of a Management Plan, the parameters that will guide the administrative and technical management of the area. The Management Plan will make explicit the management commitments and the ecological zoning of the Observatory. In zoning, a distinction is made, for example, between accessible areas and those of restricted access, in which disturbances to fauna and flora are avoided.

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In addition to the benefits of biodiversity conservation and the provision of ecosystem services, especially water, the creation of the RPPN allows the entry, in the near future, of financial revenues for the municipality of Piraquara, where the Ornithological Observatory is located. This is due to the “Ecological ICMS” law in Paraná State, which distributes a larger portion of the values collected with one local tax to municipalities with more and larger Conservation Units in their territory.