.jpg)
Cabo Froward, Magallanes. Photo: Eduardo Hernandez
Chile's president Gabriel Boric met with American conservation philanthropist Kristine Tompkins on Wednesday to discuss a proposed future national park at Cape Froward, on the southern coast of the Magallanes region.
After the meeting, the Chilean president quickly announced his intention to accept the proposal, writing on his social media accounts: “Thanks to the generous donation proposal from the Rewilding Chile Foundation, more than 93,000 hectares in Cape Froward will be part of the creation of a National Park. We move forward facing the climate crisis and protecting biodiversity!”
Cape Froward, located 62 miles southwest of the city of Punta Arenas, the 125,000-person capital of the Magallanes region which is also the hometown of President Boric. Tompkins, through her Rewilding Chile, previously known as Tompkins Conservation Chile, purchased the land in December 2020 and has ever since been preparing the park proposal. Together with the donated land, Rewilding Chile is asking that the government match their conservation gift by reclassifying state-owned property in the sectors of Cape Froward and Batchelor River.
Carolyn McCarthy, the global communications coordinator for Tompkins, said in a statement that if the government does include those public lands in the new national park, it would “result in a protected area that would be larger than Grand Teton National Park in the United States.” McCarthy says that at the meeting yesterday in the La Moneda presidential palace, President Boric also said he was interested in creating an adjacent marine protected area to the future national park. She says the park creation process in the year ahead will necessarily involve all local stakeholders, especially the Kawésqar indigenous community, which has ancestral claims on the land in question.
About half of the future park is covered with subantartic forest that is habitat for the endangered huemul deer, among diverse other species. Along the coast of the future park can be found Magellanic penguins, Peale's dolphins, and Sei and humpback whales. The park will also protect nearly 1,000 hectares of peatlands, a type of ecosystem that is especially useful in combating the climate crisis.
Some photos below of the new national park:
Cabo Froward, Magallanes. Photo: Eduardo Hernandez
A whale off the coast of Cabo Froward. Photo: Eduardo Hernandez
San Isidro lighthouse at Cabo Froward. Photo: Marcela Quiroz.jpg&description= "Pin It")
