Rewilding Argentina
Fundación Rewilding Argentina | |
 | |
| Formation | 2010 |
|---|---|
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Location | Argentina |
| Fields | Species reintroduction, rewilding |
Executive director | Sofía Heinonen |
Rewilding Argentina (Spanish: Fundación Rewilding Argentina) is an Argentine nonprofit conservation organization. It purchases private land, restoring ecosystems and developing wildlife corridors, then donates the land for national parks. The organization also reintroduces native species. Founded in 2010 by Argentine conservationists, Rewilding Argentina was preceded by Conservation Land Trust, which was established by Doug Tompkins in 1992.
Rewilding Argentina has donated land that led to the creation or expansion of six national parks, two provincial parks, and one national reserve in Argentina. Among the parks expanded or created through Rewilding Argentina are Monte León National Park, El Impenetrable National Park, Perito Moreno National Park, Patagonia National Park, Aconquija National Park, Iberá National Park, Cueva de las Manos Provincial Park, and the Iberá Provincial Reserve.
Through its rewilding efforts, Rewilding Argentina manages reintroduction projects for 14 species, including giant river otters, giant anteaters, Pampas deer, lowland tapirs, collared peccaries, jaguars, red-and-green macaws, and bare-faced curassows. Rewilding Argentina also works with communities adjacent to national parks to establish ecotourism.
Background and history
[edit]Since the European colonization of the Americas, Argentina has experienced massive biodiversity loss and defaunation related to pressures placed on the environment by overexploitation and cattle ranching. In northern Argentina, populations of giant anteaters, giant river otters, jaguars, red-and-green macaws, Pampas deer, pumas, and maned wolves dwindled or disappeared completely.[1][2]
Doug Tompkins, a U.S. businessperson and the founder of outdoor company The North Face, founded the Conservation Land Trust in 1992 and began purchasing large tracts of land that could be used to establish national parks.[3] The donation of a parcel of land led to the formation of the Corcovado National Park in Chile in 1994. National park officials in Argentina invited Tompkins and his wife Kris Tompkins, former CEO of the outdoor company Patagonia, to visit the Iberá Wetlands in 1997.[4][3] That year, Conservation Land Trust Argentina purchased the San Alonso Ranch, a 11,400 ha (28,000-acre) island in the wetlands.[5]
In 2004, Conservation Land Trust donated land to the Argentine government that was later used to form the Monte León National Park in Santa Cruz Province. By 2007, Conservation Land Trust Argentina had acquired an additional 142,000 ha (350,000 acres) for restoration and conservation projects.[5] Additional swamp land and former ranches were purchased, and by 2010, the organization had acquired 765,000 ha (1,890,000 acres) of land in Chile and Argentina.[4]
Rewilding Argentina was founded in 2010 by Argentinian conservationists as a spin-off of the non-profit organization Tompkins Conservation, which serves as a project partner.[1] The nonprofit organization purchases large tracts of privately owned land, restores them, then donates the land to the Argentine government, ensuring that the land is preserved as a national park.[1] Argentine biologist Sofia Heinonen is the executive director of Rewilding Argentina.[6]
Establishment of national parks
[edit]The efforts of Rewilding Argentina and its counterpart in Chile have led to the establishment or enlargement of 15 national parks in Argentina and Chile, protecting 6,000,000 ha (15,000,000 acres).[7] By 2022, the organization had donated $400 million to conservation efforts[1] and had donated around 400,000 ha (990,000 acres) of land, with "an estimated market value of US$91 million".[8] In Argentina, the organization's land donations have resulted in the enlargement and creation of six national parks, two provincial parks, and one national reserve. The lands comprise over 10% of the land managed by the National Parks Administration of Argentina.[8]
By 2003, Doug Tompkins had acquired 110,074 ha (272,000 acres) of land in the Iberá wetlands.[1] Rewilding Argentina purchased several private ranches in the wetlands and managed them as private reserves, eradicating non-native species, creating wildlife corridors, removing hundreds of kilometers of fences, and implementing prescribed burns. Rewilding Argentina worked with the Corrientes government to elevate the legal status of the provincial reserve to a provincial park in 2009, ensuring that the land could not be sold by the government.[9][3]
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The donation of the 37,500-acre (15,200 ha) El Rincón Ranch in Santa Cruz Province in 2013 enlarged the size of Perito Moreno National Park. The creation of the 128,000 ha (320,000-acre) El Impenetrable National Park in 2014 was made possible through the donation of La Fidelidad Ranch.[10] In 2015, Rewilding Argentina donated land that led to the establishment of Patagonia National Park in Santa Cruz Province. In 2018, the organization donated land that became the Aconquija National Park in Tucumán Province.[5] In 2018, 151,757 ha (375,000 acres) of land was donated to the Argentine government and the Iberá National Park was created.[1] The Cambyretá Wild Nature Reserve was established in 2019.[11] In 2019, Rewilding Argentina donated land for the creation of the Cueva de las Manos Provincial Park, which contains the rock art site Cueva de las Manos in Santa Cruz Province. In 2021, Rewilding Argentina donated over 50,000 ha (120,000 acres) to increase the size of the Iberá Provincial Reserve.[5]
Rewilding Argentina also assisted in the passage of legislation in Argentina that led to the creation of two national marine reserves, the Yaganes Marine National Park and the Namuncurá-Burdwood Bank II Marine National Park.[5][12]
In 2022, Rewilding Argentina was part of a coalition that created the Península Mitre Natural Protected Area in Mitre Peninsula that complements the Tierra del Fuego National Park.[13][5]
Rewilding and species reintroduction
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In addition to habitat restoration, Rewilding Argentina manages multispecies rewilding projects[14] throughout Argentina, including in the Iberá wetlands, the forests of Chaco, the southern coast, and the Patagonian Steppe. The organization spends US$3 million annually on nature restoration.[8]
Rewilding Argentina emphasizes the reintroduction of keystone species, including large predators, to restore ecosystem function through trophic cascading. Many large vertebrates in Argentina, such as giant anteaters, lowland tapirs, giant river otters, jaguars, and peccaries were mostly hunted to extinction. Rewilding Argentina acquires animals from wildlife shelters and zoos. It implements quarantine protocols and captive breeding programs, eventually releasing the animals into reserves.[4] Rewilding Argentina makes use of camera traps and satellite collars to monitor the reintroduced species and to document animal presence and predator-prey dynamics.[15] For pumas, the rewilding teams engage in "capture campaigns" to find and capture the animals. Once fitted with GPS collars, the pumas are tracked using the Iridium satellite constellation.[15]
Rewilding Argentina has introduced giant anteaters, pampas deer, and collared peccaries. Collared peccaries were reintroduced in 2015 and the lowland tapir was reintroduced the following year.[9] As of 2022, the organization has projects focused on reintroducing 14 distinct species, including founding populations of bare-faced curassows, red-and-green macaws, coypus, Wolffsohn's viscachas, and jaguars.[8] Rewilding Argentina has developed a model for reintroducing keystone species it calls the Full Nature Model, which was formalized by Ignacio Jiménez Pérez in 2018.[9]
The rewilding team of the Conservation Land Trust reintroduced giant anteaters to the Iberá wetlands in 2007.[16] A giant anteater named Yvoty Porá (Guarani: Pretty Flower) was the first reintroduced species in Corrientes. The anteater had been orphaned due to wildlife trafficking and had been living on the patio of a home in Palpalá, Jujuy. Following her release she had seven offspring and lived to the age of 15. By 2022, there were hundreds of giant anteaters in five population centers across Iberá.[17] Two of the populations are self-sustaining.