Brazil upgrades park to protect Amazon’s tallest tree, allows tourism

South America’s tallest tree, a 400-year-old red angelim in the northern tip of the Brazilian Amazon, is the star of a newly created conservation area called the Giant Trees of the Amazon State Park. The area was officially sectioned off from the larger Paru State Forest on Sept. 30 for stronger protection.

At 88.5 meters (290 feet), the towering Dinizia excelsa tree is nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Researchers encountered it in 2018 when they used airborne lasers to map the Amazon canopy, which typically peaks at 50 m (164 ft). They also identified other trees taller than 80 m (262 ft) nearby.

Now, the 560,000-hectare (1.38-million-acre) Giant Trees of the…