Owing to the urgent need to conserve ecosystems and in view of effective ways and legal actions taken to reach such goal, this study intends to evaluate the physical, environmental and legal particularities of the Guaraqueçaba Environmental Protection Area (APA) in PR/Brazil. The Atlantic Forest biome is dominant in this area and is protected within a 315.241 ha sustainable use conservation area. This study tries to establish, through temporal and spacial assessment, the historical evolution of vegetation cover levels and land use, in several periods of time (before and after the establishment of the APA), and the higher or lesser importance of the conservationist action in this kind of protected area.