Conservation Patagonia
Side note: Still one space left on my Indian Himalayan Heli-assisted Ski Touring Trip, April 8-15th.
I'm writing from Chilean Patagonia, on a Estancia (ranch), volunteering with 6 folks who work for Patagonia clothing company and Conservation Patagonia (formerly the Patagonia Land Trust) to help create a new national park here. Sounds glamourous, but truthfully the work is quite brutal, although rewarding. Our two main objectives are to remove invasive exotic plants and fences. With the addition of roads and the contribution of overgrazing by 18,000 sheep on the ranch in the past has stressed local plant health and reproduction, allowing non-native plants such as thistle, mullin, dock, and poison water hemlock to thrive. With 70km of roads in the Estancia Chacabuco alone, the task is immense. First we clip the seed heads off each plant and put them in a bag, then we pull the plant, hoe or pick axe it down, and depending on the plant, also pick axing the root out. We then scour the area for the baby plants, next year´s seed producting adults, and hoe them out also. Some plants are 6 feet tall with hundreds of seed pods, often resulting in 20,000 potential new plants.
The next fun job is removing the fence with prevents yound Guanaco (a type of wild native camel) from migrating or feeding. Competition with sheep for food, hunting, and fences have severely decreased local populations. Owners Doug and Kris Tompkins, along with local Wildlife specialist Chritian, have prioritized certain fences to be removed to promote wildlife recovery. Of particular interest is the small endagered Huemel Deer, which we were lucky enough to see at the Tamango Conservation Area, just west of the Estancia. First we hammer out the fence barbs, and then roll the barbed wire. After wire cutting, we roll up 30 meter sections of fencing. Then comes the fun part of pick axing, crowbarring, shoveling, and groveling the rocks and dirt from around the post to about 18¨ or until the post wiggles. Then we use the same 40lb crow bar with a chain, carabiner and log to lever the post out of the ground. Even those in the best of shape and with good backs are counting the hours until 5pm, let alone the brave and tenacious desk/office workers who have volunteered for the trip.
The vistas are immense, mountains tall and spiky, plants thorny, glaciers gianourmous, rivers clear turquoise, steppes windy, people friendly, mutton chewy, dogs clever, and Gauchos are classic. We head to HeniMeni National Park on the 25th for two nights of camping and a butload of driving. The nearest town or people are one hour away, so i'm expecting two long days of driving just to visit the park right next door. The goal is to combine the Estancia Chacabuco, HeniMeni, and Tamango to create the new Patagonia National Park. Then back to fence/weed yanking and home to the states and some work for Patagonia Clothing Company in California.
I'm writing from Chilean Patagonia, on a Estancia (ranch), volunteering with 6 folks who work for Patagonia clothing company and Conservation Patagonia (formerly the Patagonia Land Trust) to help create a new national park here. Sounds glamourous, but truthfully the work is quite brutal, although rewarding. Our two main objectives are to remove invasive exotic plants and fences. With the addition of roads and the contribution of overgrazing by 18,000 sheep on the ranch in the past has stressed local plant health and reproduction, allowing non-native plants such as thistle, mullin, dock, and poison water hemlock to thrive. With 70km of roads in the Estancia Chacabuco alone, the task is immense. First we clip the seed heads off each plant and put them in a bag, then we pull the plant, hoe or pick axe it down, and depending on the plant, also pick axing the root out. We then scour the area for the baby plants, next year´s seed producting adults, and hoe them out also. Some plants are 6 feet tall with hundreds of seed pods, often resulting in 20,000 potential new plants.
The next fun job is removing the fence with prevents yound Guanaco (a type of wild native camel) from migrating or feeding. Competition with sheep for food, hunting, and fences have severely decreased local populations. Owners Doug and Kris Tompkins, along with local Wildlife specialist Chritian, have prioritized certain fences to be removed to promote wildlife recovery. Of particular interest is the small endagered Huemel Deer, which we were lucky enough to see at the Tamango Conservation Area, just west of the Estancia. First we hammer out the fence barbs, and then roll the barbed wire. After wire cutting, we roll up 30 meter sections of fencing. Then comes the fun part of pick axing, crowbarring, shoveling, and groveling the rocks and dirt from around the post to about 18¨ or until the post wiggles. Then we use the same 40lb crow bar with a chain, carabiner and log to lever the post out of the ground. Even those in the best of shape and with good backs are counting the hours until 5pm, let alone the brave and tenacious desk/office workers who have volunteered for the trip.
The vistas are immense, mountains tall and spiky, plants thorny, glaciers gianourmous, rivers clear turquoise, steppes windy, people friendly, mutton chewy, dogs clever, and Gauchos are classic. We head to HeniMeni National Park on the 25th for two nights of camping and a butload of driving. The nearest town or people are one hour away, so i'm expecting two long days of driving just to visit the park right next door. The goal is to combine the Estancia Chacabuco, HeniMeni, and Tamango to create the new Patagonia National Park. Then back to fence/weed yanking and home to the states and some work for Patagonia Clothing Company in California.
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