We are in Cholila, a small town 3 hours South of Bariloche, 7 hours South of our last place in Alumine. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid lived here for a few years after leaving the US before their money ran low and they robbed that last bank. There is no shortage of history in Patagonia...
We meet with two university professors in Bariloche yesterday to learn more about conservation efforts here. There are several major NSF-funded projects underway here that are looking at climate change, habitat destruction and fishery populations. It is not a pretty story. The good news is people are starting to think about solutions.
The good news is the crowds are pretty much limited to one area in Patagonia. The lack of roads and airports has crowded people into one section leaving the other parts - like Alumine or here in Cholilia pretty much empty and protected. We will float the Rio Rividavia today. Unlike the hot, dry mountains of Alumine, this place is temperate rain forest, glacial-fed streams giving the water that deep blue color. The rivers here flow to the Pacific which is only 60 miles away. It is a different world.
Oh yeah... Ted Turner et al. What is most amazing about Patagonia and all of Argentina is how land is protected. Estancias are vast in this country. Major portions of Argentina were purchased over 100 years ago by European families and that land is still protected today from development. Ted Turner owns a massive estancia here and the land is totally closed to human access. If you own it in Argentina, it is yours. There are no rights given to others for access. Doug Tompkins is the most famous American here. He has purchased large tracks of land in Chile as well as Argentina. In fact he is a major landholder in the Ibera Marsh area. Americans - a.k.a. yankees -- are not trusted here. I guess because Argentines trust no one -- not the government, or corporations, or any outsider in their country.
Perhaps the greatest factor in the protection of Patagonia has been the role of the Argentine Military. The military decided to protect and secure their border with Chile so they set up a string of national parks along the Chilean/Argentine border. In addition, they set up a complex national park administration system that to this day is the dominant force in all environmental matters covering the area.
Much of Patagonia is protected but under assault in this area. There are other issues of real concern to discuss -- aquaculture, the removal of all non-native trout from rivers and lakes, habitat destruction from shoreline development -- not new issues, but important ones to discuss. But we remain most interested in the wild places of Argentina. Like the Ibera marsh, uninhabitable, dangerous and truly wild, there remain places to protect so they will always be there to remind us what it was once like everywhere... sometimes a sad thought, but definately a driving force for us here at MVF to help protect those places in every possible way we can. Best to all.
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