HENRI PITTIER NATIONAL PARK

also called Rancho Grande National Park, park in the Cordillera de la Costa, Aragua state, Venezuela, occupying an area of 350 sq mi (900 sq km) between Lago (lake) de Valencia and the Caribbean. It was established in 1937, largely through the efforts of Henri Pittier, a Venezuelan naturalist, who convinced his government that the destruction of mountain forests would create droughts in the Aragua Valley and hasten the drying up of Lago de Valencia, Venezuela's largest natural inland lake. Much of the park is covered with primeval rain forest.