Águas Emendadas Ecological Station, Ecological station in Planaltina, Brazil

The Águas Emendadas Ecological Station is a 10,547-hectare conservation unit in Planaltina, in the northeast of the Federal District, about 50 km from central Brasília. Its vegetation ranges from open campo limpo and campo sujo to cerrado scrub, flooded and unflooded gallery forest, veredas and murundu fields. The Environmental Information Center has an auditorium, and five roads cross the flat land.

The area was established as a biological reserve in 1968 with about 5,000 hectares and later expanded to include additional land such as Mestre D'Armas lagoon. It gained its current status as an ecological station in 1988.

The Environmental Information Center features displays about the cerrado's plant and animal life and how different species depend on each other to survive. School groups and researchers come here to understand why protecting this region matters.

Public access is limited to researchers and educational groups, so arrange authorization with IBRAM, the Federal District environmental agency, before any visit. Five roads cross the 10,547-hectare reserve and animals are often killed by vehicles, so drive carefully. Parts of the flat terrain flood in the rainy season from December to March, and fires occur in the dry season between May and October.

During the rainy season, water streams from this site flow in opposite directions, northward toward the Amazon Basin and southward toward the Rio de la Plata Basin. This makes the ground a rare hydrological meeting point where two major river systems divide.