In response to pressure from urban sprawl in the Cantareira mountains, in 2009 the state government launched a process aimed at nearly quadrupling the area under state protection. This required the purchase, transfer or expropriation of private land in seven municipalities. To this end, the state government co-operated closely with landowners and municipalities, surveying the perimeter of the proposed protected areas so as to tailor their boundaries to existing ecological, economic and political situations.