It's now official: Pumalín national park and Patagonia national park have joined the network of five Chilean national parks. Together they cover an area of 4 million hectares.
It is a signing that will in all likelihood go down in history. Chile's history, certainly, but also that of the rest of humanity. On 29 January, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and Tompkins Conservation president Kristine McDivitt Tompkins officially brought into being Pumalín national park and Patagonia national park. These two areas are joining the Chilean national park network, together with three other parks, covering an area of more than four million hectares. In practice, Chile now has a protected area the size of Switzerland, or three times the combined size of Yosemite and Yellowstone.
But this is not being called a historic agreement solely because of its scale. The result was achieved thanks to one of the largest donations from a private body — Tompkins Conservation — to a public one, namely the Chilean government. We are talking about 400,000 hectares (Sila and Gran Paradiso cover "only" just over 70,000 hectares each). What is more, the agreement was reached by two women who, together, have created one of the largest protected areas in the world. "With these beautiful lands, forests and rich ecosystems, we are expanding the park network to more than 10 million acres (4 million hectares)," said president Bachelet. "In this way, national parks in Chile will increase by 38.5 per cent, reaching 81.1 per cent of Chile's protected areas."
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Already open to the public, they are welcoming visitors from around the world, offering them all the natural beauty of Patagonia, which from today will be protected. The two national parks will become part of the great Chilean park network, connected to one another by the Route of Parks. Almost 2,500 kilometres of trail, taking visitors through rainforest hikes, camping on the shores of glacial lakes, kayaking and trekking on alpine peaks.
The agreement dates back to March of last year, when, a few years after the death of her husband Doug Tompkins, founder of the outdoor clothing brand The North Face, his wife Kristine — at the head of Tompkins Conservation — had donated her own nature reserve to the Chilean government. A dream born 25 years ago that has today become reality. "I am proud of my husband Doug and of his vision, which continues to guide us, as well as our entire team, for having inaugurated these two national parks and a broader network. A milestone in our first 25 years of work," said Kristine Tompkins in a statement.
"We will continue to promote and safeguard these parks, but we are beginning to turn our attention to new conservation and restoration projects in Chile and Argentina, as we work to save and restore large, wild and connected ecosystems."
Always in love with Patagonia and a close friend of Yvon Chouinard, after selling his stakes in The North Face and Esprit, he decided to turn his life around. "I realised that what I was doing was making a lot of things nobody needed, and that this was contributing to a consumerist society, so I set about doing something else." In 1992 he co-founded Conservation Land Trust with his wife, a foundation dedicated to carrying out nature conservation projects in Chile and Argentina. From there he began buying land and vast areas, effectively turning them into protected areas — ultimately leaving us the legacy of one of the largest protected areas in the world.